The largest corporate pension plans in the United States experienced a slight drop in their funded status at the end of 2018 due to the sharp decline in equities, according to an analysis by Willis Towers Watson. The study, which looked at the defined benefit pension plans of 389 Fortune 1000 companies, found their pension assets […]
While 2018 ushered in a number of significant changes to Ontario’s pension legislation, including a major revamping of the funding rules for defined benefit plans, additional pending changes are afoot for 2019. Other provinces, such as British Columbia, Manitoba and Nova Scotia, are also reviewing solvency funding requirements for plans registered in their respective jurisdictions. […]
Readers were focused on the Canada Pension Plan and old-age security in 2018, with the top three most read stories tackling those topics. Benefits Canada rounds up the industry’s favourite pension and retirement stories of the year: 1. New CPP, OAS benefit amounts take effect for 2018 2. Increase to OAS benefits takes effect July 1 3. Why aren’t Canada’s public […]
One of General Motors of Canada Co.’s defined benefit pension plans is fully funded on a going-concern basis. The pension plan for hourly workers posted about $9.3 billion in assets as of its last official financial release in December 2017, according to the Globe and Mail, which received the information from an anonymous source. The assets represent a 101 […]
The Federal Court of Appeal is upholding a ruling denying female Royal Canadian Mounted Police employees the opportunity to buy back into their pension plan after they moved to part-time roles to raise their families. The case arose when three former RCMP officers opted to job share and work reduced hours to spend more time with their […]
The market value of assets held by Canadian trusteed pension funds grew 0.6 per cent between the first and second quarters of 2018, according to data from Statistics Canada. Investments in real estate saw the largest increase in the second quarter, up 2.5 per cent to $186.7 billion, and investments in mortgages saw the largest decline, down 13.9 per […]
General Motors of Canada Co. is working to set up jobs and training programs for employees who will be put out of work when it closes the Oshawa Assembly plant next year, even as Unifor promises an extended fight to keep the operation open. In addition, GM estimates about half of the 3,000 unionized and […]
Canadian taxpayers are providing $22 billion each year to the country’s public sector pension plans by assuming undisclosed investment risks, according to a new report by public policy think-tank the Fraser Institute. In the report, its author Malcolm Hamilton suggested public pension funds view the income they provide to plan members on retirement as 20 […]
Though financial markets were volatile and bond yields dropped, Canadian defined benefit pension plans benefited from higher asset returns in November, with median solvency standing at 100.6 per cent, according to Aon’s monthly survey. Among the plans surveyed, 48 per cent were more than fully funded, down just 0.2 percentage points from the end of […]
Sears Canada Inc.’s pensioners reached a settlement last week after they were denied priority over the company’s other creditors. The settlement is subject to certain conditions before it becomes binding, according to a news release from Koskie Minsky LLP, the firm representing Sears’ retirees in the proceedings. The firm is dropping the deemed trust option it was […]