The focus on environmental, social and governance factors is a train that’s leaving the station, but some pension plan sponsors and institutional investors remain hesitant to hop aboard. Over the past decade, interest in incorporating ESG factors into investment decisions has increased. Indeed, a 2020 survey by investment consulting firm Callan found 42 per cent […]
At the beginning of 2020, the OPSEU Pension Trust upped its gold allocation to close to six per cent of its total fund after a comprehensive portfolio assessment. The decision paid off. In an environment of historically low interest rates and coronavirus-related market uncertainty, the commodity’s price skyrocketed to reach an all-time high of US$2,000 […]
While more than half (57 per cent) of institutional investors got into crypto assets between 2020 and 2021, most investments were small with 71 per cent allocating less than two per cent of their portfolios to the asset class, according to a new survey by KPMG in Canada and the Canadian Association of Alternative Strategies […]
What’s the value of Bitcoin? Or better, what makes it valuable? Is it because many people think it’s valuable? Is it valuable because it’s cool and we expect other people, especially those in the online community, to believe it’s valuable? Does the dynamics of investor demand matter as much as fundamentals? In a recent paper, […]
The average solvency ratio of Canadian defined benefit pension plans in Mercer’s database increased five percentage points in the first quarter of 2022, according to a new report by the consultancy. The report, which assessed the performance of 464 pension plans, found as at March 31, 2022, the plans’ average solvency ratio reached 108 per […]
Compared to their global peers, Canada’s asset managers are more confident in their organizations’ data analysis abilities and less confident in their data management platforms, according to a new report by BNY Mellon Asset Management Canada Ltd. The report, based on the results of a survey of 200 asset managers across the globe, found almost […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec alongside several partners are participating in a US$120 million Series B funding round for a global job search platform. The new funding will allow Talent.com to further expand to further its platform by improving the relevancy and efficiency of the search experience for job seekers, according to a […]
Right from the very beginning, the coronavirus pandemic has taken Canadian real estate investors on a wild ride. After the freefalling panic of March 2020, the sector settled into a relatively comfortable rhythm and undulated through several waves of the virus, saving one of its steeper peaks and troughs for the tail end of 2021. […]
The Alberta Investment Management Corp. is appointing Paul Mouchakkaa as senior managing director and head of real estate, effective May 2, 2022. In the role, Mouchakkaa will lead the organization’s real estate investment team, currently responsible for a real estate portfolio comprising $18 billion in core domestic and opportunistic foreign program assets, according to a press release. “Paul […]
The British Columbia Municipal Pension Plan’s new Municipal Retiree Benefit Trust is joining the B.C. Investment Management Corp. The MRBT, which has $100 million in assets under management, is an employee life and health trust that provides group benefits to the MPP’s retirees and their spouses/dependants. It was recently created following a program review and redesign. […]