The Independent Electricity System Operator’s pension plan is in the midst of a comeback from a period of heightened post-coronavirus pandemic volatility, with diversification as the key to its investment roadmap, says Jeannette Briggs, the organization’s director of corporate finance and who served as chair of its pension management committee from 2021 to 2023. After […]
While real assets are largely absent among the investment options offered by Canadian defined contribution pension plans, they can offer significant long-term benefits to plan members, said Andrew Knox, managing director of Franklin Templeton Investments’ global real assets fund, during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2024 DC Plan Summit in February. “[Defined contribution] investors in […]
The evolution of artificial intelligence is creating new challenges and investment opportunities for defined contribution pension plan members, said Kathrin Forrest, equity investment director at Capital Group, during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2024 DC Plan Summit in February. While the technology itself isn’t new, AI has rapidly developed in recent years, exemplified by generative […]
The recent pressure put on Canadian pensions plans from private managers and governments to re-discover an investment home bias has been met with little enthusiasm, despite special interest by both federal and provincial governments to potentially tap pension fund capital for infrastructure given that current expenditure eats up a large share of the budget. Infrastructure […]
The Alberta Investment Management Corp.’s total fund generated a net return of 6.9 per cent in 2023, 1.8 percentage points below its 8.7 per cent benchmark. As of Dec. 31, 2023, the AIMCo’s total assets under management were $160.6 billion, compared to $158 billion in 2022. Its balanced fund generated a net return of eight per […]
The Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology pension plan saw a net return of 9.5 per cent for 2023, with net assets of $20.1 billion, up from $18.2 billion in 2022, according to its latest annual report. As of Jan. 1, 2024, the investment organization maintained a healthy funding level of 124 per cent on a going-concern […]
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is gaining a minority stake in a new financial entity resulting from a merger between Fairstone Bank of Canada and Home Trust Company. The new group will have a national branch and broker network to offer residential and commercial mortgages, personal loans, credit cards, retail financing, auto financing, digital lending […]
In its 2024 budget on Tuesday, the Ontario government reiterated its support for a provincial infrastructure bank to leverage public sector pension investments. The bank, renamed the Building Ontario Fund, was announced in the province’s 2023 fall economic statement and will support the development of new long‐term care homes, energy infrastructure, affordable housing, municipal and […]
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is reporting a net return of 1.9 per cent for 2023, according to its latest annual report. The investment organization underperformed its benchmark return of 8.7 per cent, a 6.8 per cent difference or $15.8 billion in negative value add. In 2022, the plan beat the benchmark by 1.8 per […]
The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan is reporting an annual return of 9.38 per cent for 2023, partly due to the performance of equities and fixed income, says Michael Wissell, chief investment officer at the HOOPP. The investment organization finished the year with $112.6 billion in net assets, compared to $103.7 billion and a return of […]