The pension industry is at a turning point, with the asset value of defined contribution plans growing, while defined benefit plans are shrinking. “In a decade’s time, you will have a situation where DC will be almost $50 trillion in size, but DB will be $10 trillion in size and there will be big changes […]
With developed market bond yields sitting near zero, pension plan sponsors seeking better returns and increased portfolio efficiency may find what they’re looking for in global fixed income, said Gregor Dannacher, global corporate credit portfolio specialist for the fixed income division at T. Rowe Price. When speaking at the Canadian Investment Review’s Global Investment Conference […]
Canada’s defined benefit pension plans posted a 3.2 per cent return in 2020’s third quarter, a position augmented by strong global equity markets, according to Northern Trust Canada’s pension universe. “The global pandemic has undoubtedly accelerated the pace of change for many defined benefit pension plans over the course of recent months, namely in the […]
In January 2020, the Canadian Institute of Actuaries released final changes to the actuarial standards of practice for calculating commuted values, with the changes scheduled to come into effect on Dec. 1, 2020. The changes will affect the lump-sum amounts paid from many Canadian defined benefit pension plans in situations such as: the termination of employment of […]
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, many organizations were focused on getting through the short term, but defined benefit pension plan sponsors are starting to take another look at de-risking. As of the second quarter of 2020, the total market volume of group annuity purchases year-to-date was $0.5 billion, compared to $1.5 billion in the first […]
How do the European Central Bank’s monetary-policy decisions influence corporate debt levels in the U.S.? The ECB’s purchasing of investment-grade, corporate, Euro-denominated bonds seemingly crowded Eurozone institutional investors out of such instruments and Eurozone investors increased their allocations to U.S. dollar corporate bonds soon after, according to a new paper by Kerry Siani, a PhD […]
While the overall financial state of Ontario’s defined benefit pension plans improved in 2019, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario continues to monitor fluctuations caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In the FSRA’s new report, it projected the estimated going-concern and solvency funding positions of the province’s DB plans to a common year-end date. […]
Over the last 40 years, the demographics of pension plan membership have changed drastically, said Michael Augustine, managing director and head of asset-liability management at TD Asset Management, during a webinar hosted by the investment manager earlier this month. “Forty years ago, when rates were a lot higher, pension plan demographics were quite different. For every […]
Manulife Investment Management Holdings (Canada) Inc. has been named to the Principles for Responsible Investment’s PRI leaders’ group 2020 in recognition of its ‘cutting edge’ practices in climate reporting, one of 36 signatories honoured this year. In its assessment, the PRI awarded Manulife Investment Management an A+ in the areas of strategy and governance, equity […]
The impact of powerful trends, including aging populations and growing debt levels in the world’s largest economies, has been somewhat mitigated in recent years by the ongoing involvement of central banks in markets and declining interest rates. However, with rates at historic lows, this is not something that can be relied on over the next […]