The job of a pension consultant has evolved considerably over Bita Jenab’s 30-year career in the field. The mid-1990s saw a greater focus on governance and the arrival of the investment consultant, while the 2000s featured a mass move to defined contribution plans and significant changes to pension legislation. Through all of that, plan sponsors […]
Cashiers will often ask Canadian consumers if they’d like to donate to a charity as they pay for items at retail stores. But what about applying the concept to retirement savings? A pilot project in Mexico is taking voluntary contributions at the checkout counter to a whole new level by nudging people who are buying […]
While there are nuances, I consider a target-benefit plan to be one that determines benefits to members on a defined benefit basis while setting out employer contributions on a defined contribution basis. To allow for that mix, target-benefit plans permit benefit reductions when contributions fall short. My goal is to share what I consider an […]
Hub International Ltd. is acquiring Ontario-based Benefit Broker Services Inc. Benefit Broker Services, which is located in Wallaceburg, Ont., is a provider of services related to employee benefits and pension plans. The terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed. Scott Ewing, the firm’s president, and Stacey Ewing, its co-founder and owner, will join Hub Ontario, reporting […]
Canadian defined benefit pension plans experienced a modest second quarter, according to separate reports by BNY Mellon Asset Management Canada Ltd. and RBC Investor and Treasury Services. The plans in BNY Mellon’s Canadian pension fund-level benchmark posted its ninth straight positive result with a 2.16 per cent increase for the quarter. It found that plans […]
With former Sears Canada Inc.’ employees set to see a 30 per cent reduction in their pension benefits beginning Aug. 1, Benefits Canada looks back at the saga. June 2017 — Sears Canada announces it’s seeking protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act as it faces a $308.6-million deficit related to its retirement benefit obligations. Read: Sears […]
The Nova Scotia Pension Services Corp. finished 2017 with $11.5 billion in assets between the Public Service Superannuation Plan and the Teachers’ Pension Plan, according to its annual report. The PSSP closed out the year with a $207-million surplus, resulting in a going-concern funded ratio of 103.4 per cent, down slightly from the 104.1 per cent it posted […]
There was a lot of news to share from the pension, investment, benefits and human resources industries this month. Here are the 10 most popular online stories of the month: 1. Employer-paid benefits to be subject to new B.C. health tax 2. Ontario government to become second payer under OHIP+ changes 3. Great-West Life’s Jeff […]
The vast majority (91.8 per cent) of British Columbia’s government employees were covered by a registered pension plan in 2017, compared to just 17.7 per cent of their counterparts in the province’s private sector, according to a new report by the Fraser Institute. Among those covered by a registered pension, 94 per cent of government […]
Unifor members employed by three Ontario casinos have voted to ratify new three-year contracts that include improvements to their pension plans. Unifor members from Local 1090 at Casino Ajax and Great Blue Heron Casino, as well as Local 504 at Elements Casino Brantford, voted to accept a tentative agreement, which includes a one per cent increase […]