US equities have dominated their global peers over the past decade. As of 30 June, the S&P 500 had returned 14.5 per cent per annum since hitting bottom during the global financial crisis in March 2009 compared to only 7.6 per cent for the MSCI All-Country World ex-USA Index. The outperformance of US shares isn’t […]
Defined contribution plan members saw a bounce-back in equity markets in the second quarter of 2020, boosting their gross income replacement ratios from the lows of the first quarter, according to Eckler Ltd.’s latest capital accumulation plan income tracker report. A typical male DC plan member retiring at age 65 at the end of June […]
Strong public market performance helped Canadian defined benefit pension plans reverse their first-quarter losses, according to a new report by BNY Mellon Asset Management Canada. The median second quarter return for the 84 Canadian corporate, public and university pension plans in BNY Mellon’s Canadian master trust universe was 9.23 per cent, up from the first quarter median […]
Climate change has accelerated the risk of expensive natural disasters, but these risks still aren’t being adequately taken into consideration in investment decisions. “Climate risks oftentimes are evaluated more under ‘E’ in [environmental, social and governance risk assessments],” said Jeff Schlegelmilch, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, in a webinar hosted […]
The British Columbia Investment Management Corp. rounded out its fiscal year with a three per cent return, slightly underperforming its 3.3 per cent benchmark. In dollar terms, the BCI added $17.8 billion as of March 31, 2020, rounding to a total $171.3 billion in assets under management. The three per cent return represented something of […]
While factor behaviour tends to be consistent in market crashes and corrections, individual factor performance varies over the medium term. As such, institutional investors should maintain diversified exposure across key equity factors including value, quality, momentum, size and low volatility, according to a new paper by Mercer. The paper explored the past three financial crises: […]
Canadian defined benefit pension plans experienced an upsurge in the second quarter of 2020, posting a median return of 9.6 per cent, according to RBC Investor and Treasury Services’ universe of DB pension plans. After the first quarter’s median return of negative 7.1 per cent, the rally marked the highest single quarter return in the […]
Canadian defined benefit plan sponsors are holding an almost equal amount of fixed income and equity in their portfolios, according to the Pension Investment Association of Canada’s 2019 asset mix report. The report found the PIAC’s membership reported a total of more than $2.2 trillion under management last year, up from just under $2.1 trillion in 2018. As well, […]
CPPIB Credit Investments Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, is selling 10 million shares in Battle North Gold Corp. The shares of the Canadian gold mine developer, formerly known as Rubicon Minerals Corp., sold for $1.85 per share for a total aggregate sale price of $18.5 million. Read: Caisse buying return royalty […]
Diversified pooled fund managers had a positive second quarter of 2020, posting a median return of 11 per cent before management fees, according to the Morneau Shepell universe of pension manager’s pooled funds. Despite the strong results, the return was 1.2 per cent lower than the benchmark portfolio used by many pension plans. Further, the […]