Canadian defined benefit pension plans experienced a modest third quarter, according to separate reports by BNY Mellon Asset Management Canada Ltd. and Northern Trust Corp. The 87 plans included in BNY Mellon’s tracking service saw a 0.55 per cent return in the third quarter of 2017. Those tracked by Northern Trust saw a negative 0.7 per cent […]
Representative counsel for Sears Canada Inc.’s retirees has sent a letter to the monitor, FTI Consulting Inc., and all parties involved in the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act proceedings asserting their first priority claim against the company’s estate on behalf of pension members. In the letter sent recently, Andrew Hatnay, a partner at Koskie Minsky LLP, wrote that […]
A new collective agreement reached by United Steelworkers members at mining company Goldcorp Inc. in Timmins, Ont. includes improvements to pensions and benefits. Some 280 members of the union’s Local 7580 voted on Monday to ratify the agreement, which will provide pension benefit increases of more than eight per cent over its three-year term, to $66 […]
Solvency ratios for defined benefit pension plans regulated by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario have stayed relatively stable, according to the organization’s quarterly report. The median solvency ratio was 91 per cent as of Sept. 30, 2017, up from 89 per cent on June 30 and down from 93 per cent on March 31. […]
More than 500 members of United Steelworkers Local 1568 who are employed by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories have reached a collective agreement that includes moving into a new union-trusteed, multi-employer pension plan. However, the trustees of that plan, the Canadian Energy and Related Industries pension plan, are also aiming to transition to a target-benefit arrangement under federal jurisdiction by […]
While the sustainability of defined benefit pension plans have long been a central talking point in the industry, they took a real hit during the 2008 financial crisis, a sting many plans feared would linger in public opinion. “DB plans were obviously affected. Actually, all retirement savings plans were impacted,” says Darryl Mabini, senior director of growth and […]
The Quebec Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling ordering a woman to repay about $500,000 in pension benefits paid to a university professor found dead years after he disappeared. The case dealt with pension payments to Lynne Threlfall, the former de facto spouse of the retired Carleton University professor, 77-year-old George Rosme, after he […]
Six of Canada’s largest pension funds have been ranked among the world’s most responsible institutional investors. The ranking, by the Bretton Woods II program at U.S. think tank New America, was developed in partnership with the Global Development Incubator and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. It analyzed 125 pension and sovereign […]
The coming into force of an administrative monetary penalty regime under Ontario’s Pension Benefits Act on Jan. 1, 2018, will change the risk profile for plan sponsors and administrators, necessitating a review of governance and compliance policies. Current enforcement tools, primarily compliance orders and fines of up to $100,000 for a first offence and $200,000 […]
The Ontario Superintendent of Financial Services has selected Morneau Shepell Ltd. to take over the administration of Sears Canada Inc.’s pension plan. Following the announcement earlier this month that the company will seek a liquidation order from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the superintendent has determined a plan windup is inevitable, according to a […]