The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is reporting a net loss of 6.1 per cent for its last fiscal year, according to its preliminary annual results. During the year ending June 30, 2022, the public sector defined benefit pension plan’s value decreased from $466.84 billion to $440 billion. According to a press release, the losses […]
The University Pension Plan is rolling out a new climate strategy that aims to make its portfolio carbon neutral by 2040. “I’m proud that we’ve set an ambition consistent with the challenge we face,” says Brian Minns (pictured), managing director of responsible investing at the UPP. “We’re going to deliver on our investment returns in […]
Despite year-to-date asset losses and historically high levels of inflation, most Canadian defined benefit pension plans are reporting increased funded positions in the second quarter of 2022, according to a report by Mercer Canada. It found the median solvency ratio increased from 108 per cent as at March 31 to 109 per cent as at […]
Higher long-term bond yields driven by rising interest rates are lowering the cost of annuity purchases for defined benefit pension plans, says Mary Kate Archibald, a principal at Eckler Ltd. Since January, the cost of an annuity purchase has decreased by between 10 and 15 per cent, as long-term bond yields increased from 1.7 to […]
There are a lot of reasons to believe financial markets will be very different in the next 10 to 20 years than what pension funds have been used to, according to Aaron Bennett, chief investment officer of the University Pension Plan, during a session at the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute forum in Montreal last […]
The market value of assets held by Canadian trusteed pension funds increased 4.2 per cent to $2.27 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2021, up from $2.18 trillion in the previous quarter, according to new data from Statistics Canada. Within trusteed plans, public sector assets grew five per cent to $1.78 trillion, accounting for 78 per cent […]
The average Canadian defined benefit pension plan saw improvements in its solvency position in May, according to LifeWorks Inc.’s latest monthly report. An investment portfolio designed to mimic that of a typical pension saw its assets decline by 0.4 per cent over the month. Despite this, the solvency index, which provides an indication of changes […]
The Public Sector Pension Investment Board returned 10.9 per cent — or $19.7 billion — across is total portfolio in the 2022 fiscal year. Between April 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022, the institutional investor’s assets under management grew from $204.5 billion to $230.47 billion, an increase of 12.7 per cent. The results raised PSP […]
With increased market volatility due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, central banks in the West looking to tighten monetary policies as the world begins emerging from the coronavirus pandemic and higher, more persistent inflation than anticipated, bond investors are in for a wild ride, said Samantha Klein, lead of institutional business for T. Rowe Price […]
Canadian institutional investors should have a strategic allocation to emerging market debt, Ward Brown, fixed income portfolio manager at MFS Investment Management, explained during his session. EM debt has two of the key characteristics needed for a strategic allocation. First, it is a good diversifier because it has low correlations with other assets commonly found […]