Canadian defined benefit pension plans’ solvency position rose in the first quarter of 2019, according to two new pension indexes. Representing the solvency ratio of a hypothetical plan, Mercer Canada’s index sat at 106 per cent on March 31, up from 102 per cent at the start of the year. The median solvency ratio of Mercer clients’ pension plans […]
\Over the course of the last 15 years we have seen an increase in the number of frozen corporate defined benefit plans in Canada. Frozen plans have limited the future benefit accruals in the plan, either through closing membership to new employees or, in some cases, freezing future service accruals to existing members. This fundamental […]
With turbulent equity markets, fixed income has a major role to play as defined benefit pensions look to more closely match their liabilities and investments, says Steve Peacher, president of Sun Life Investment Management. “The big mismatch over time has been a duration and curve mismatch,” he says. “People have had long liabilities. They haven’t focused […]
The U.S. customized target-date fund market grew to US$430 billion at the end of 2017, according to the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association. The DCIIA’s inaugural survey on the market, which included data from 65 plans with a total of 673 different funds, found the majority of these funds are allocated to a mix of equities and fixed income. […]
Many investors believe the end of the current economic cycle is coming, according to Invesco’s latest global fixed income survey. While 49 per cent of respondents said they expect the current cycle to last one or two more years, a slim majority (52 per cent) of North American investors said it will end earlier. Investors in […]
Buy-in and buyout annuity sales hit their highest level in Canadian history in 2018, reaching $4.5 billion, an increase of $800 million over 2017, according to data from Eckler Ltd. The purchases represent a 20 per cent increase in the volume of group annuities bought by Canadian pension plans, year over year. Buy-in annuities, which made up more than […]
The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan grew its assets to $79 billion in 2018, up from $77.8 billion at the end of 2017. However, the plan’s funded status fell slightly to 121 per cent, down from 122 per cent the previous year. It eked out a positive 2.17 per cent return in 2018, beating its benchmark, which returned […]
The OPSEU Pension Trust is making an additional purchase of $100 million in Ontario government green bonds, bringing its allocation in the asset to about one per cent of its total holdings. The bonds are a tool the provincial government uses to finance transit and energy efficiency projects, according to the press release. “As a […]
The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System posted a 2.3 per cent return for 2018, pulling in $2.2 billion. In 2017, the fund saw a return of 11.5 per cent for the year and boosted its funded status to 94 per cent. For 2018, the funded status saw further gains, landing at 96 per cent. “The […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec ended 2018 with a return of 4.2 per cent, beating its benchmark portfolio, which returned 2.4 per cent, and bringing the portfolio to a net asset total of $309.5 billion. “In 2018, our investment strategy was put to the test. For the first time in several years, global stock […]