Exposure to generic asset pricing factors can help deliver risk-adjusted returns, according to Ryan Taliaferro, senior vice-president and director of investment strategies at Acadian Asset Management, speaking during the Canadian Investment Review’s 2024 Risk Management Conference. These products tend to be available off the shelf in commercially available risk models and are typically marketed by exchange-traded […]
In 2023, the world’s 300 largest pension funds’ assets under management increased by 10 per cent to US$22.6 trillion, compared to $20.6 trillion at the end of 2022, according to a new report by WTW’s Thinking Ahead Institute. It found the top 20 largest global pension funds’ AUM increased by 12 per cent during the […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board reported an eight per cent return in its fiscal year ending March 31, but significantly underperformed the 19.9 per cent return of its reference portfolio. The reference portfolio, made of 85 per cent global equity and 15 per cent Canadian bonds, benefited last year from stock price surges in the […]
The Medicus Pension Plan, a defined benefit multi-employer pension plan designed exclusively for incorporated physicians in Canada, reported a funded status of 158 per cent on a going-concern basis and a 115 per cent funded status on a solvency basis as of Jan. 1, 2024. The plan, which launched in May 2023, is designed to […]
As global markets navigate turbulent economic waters, active management is proving once again to be a lifeline for institutional investors to ensure their portfolios ride out the storm. Pension funds are currently operating amid uncertainty and potential risk, says Ruslan Goyenko, an associate professor of finance at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management. “There are […]
Over the last year, the volatile interest rate period has increased demand for fixed income exchange-traded funds among institutional investors, said Robert Forsyth, head of SPDR ETF strategy and research at State Street Global Advisors, during the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2023 Investment Innovation Conference in November. “Institutional investors were using ETFs to gain really quick access […]
The value of Canadian trusteed pension funds’ assets rose by $40.9 billion — roughly two per cent — in the first quarter of 2023 to $2.2 trillion, according to a new report by Statistics Canada. Within trusteed plans, public sector assets grew five per cent to $1.7 trillion, while private sector assets increased to $451 billion. Total revenue decreased […]
The average Canadian defined benefit pension plan posted returns of 0.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2023, according to RBC Investor and Treasury Services’ universe. Foreign equities emerged as the top performing asset class, boasting a median return of 2.9 per cent. In comparison, the MSCI world index returned 4.5 per cent, primarily […]
With the Muslim population steadily growing in Canada, employers that offer defined contribution pension plans can avoid unintentionally creating a pension gap by providing these members with access to retirement savings solutions that align with their faith. Under Shariah law, Muslims can’t hold investments that would bring social or environmental harm, such as shares in […]
The U.K. government is introducing legislation that aims to increase defined contribution pension plan savings by more than £1,000 a year in retirement for the average plan member. The legislation will commit nine of the U.K.’s largest DC plan providers to an objective of allocating five per cent of assets in their default funds to […]