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 […]
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 pension plans recovered some of their losses from the start of 2020 in the second quarter off the back of strong public equity gains, according to the Northern Trust Canada universe. With stimulus spending to tackle the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic taking effect in many countries, stock markets rebounded with […]
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, […]
QuadReal Property Group, the real estate investment arm of the British Columbia Investment Management Corp., has issued $350 million of 1.747 per cent series-2 senior notes maturing July 24, 2030, through BCI QuadReal Realty. The issuance is BQR’s inaugural green bond offering. “On the back of a successful inaugural issuance and continuing low interest rate […]
Canadian defined benefit pension plans recovered some of their losses from the start of 2020 in the second quarter off the back of strong public equity gains, according to the Northern Trust Canada universe. With stimulus spending to tackle the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic taking effect in many countries, stock markets rebounded with double-digit […]
Morningstar Inc. is taking aim at the disparate ESG disclosure requirements still hampering the investment industry. In a recent report, Morningstar explored some of the issues hindering ESG measurement tools. “Simply put, ESG disclosures from issuers are all too often inconsistent and non-comparable and material information is not always available.” One key problem, it noted, […]
The Public Sector Pension Investment Board posted a negative 0.6 per cent net return for the fiscal year, which ended March 31, 2020. Severe market declines in the lead up to the end of March took a heavy toll. However, the fund did outperform its reference portfolio, which saw a negative 2.2 per cent return. […]
While the Pension Investment Association of Canada strongly supports Nova Scotia’s recent pension funding changes, it’s calling on the provincial government to tweak the provision for adverse deviation calculation and access to solvency reserve accounts. Nova Scotia’s pension funding changes took effect on April 1, reducing solvency funding to 85 per cent, with any shortfalls required to be […]
In the current low-yield environment, many pension funds are looking for alternatives to fixed income to earn the returns required to pay pension obligations. The answer for some may be private credit. “We like private credit because we see a lot of excess yield compared to the same risk and return that you can achieve […]