The Investment Management Corp. of Ontario saw returns of 9.6 per cent in 2021, according to its annual report. The IMCO’s assets under management rose $5.7 billion during the year, reaching $79 billion. The year’s returns weren’t evenly distributed, as client pension plan gains ranged from 0.1 per cent to 11.2 per cent depending on […]
An announcement regarding long-awaited amendments to the Patented Medicines Review Board regulations was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. PMPRB drug pricing regulations officially coming into effect this July 2. Key stakeholders highlighting value of private payer health care amid plans for […]
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is renaming its venture capital and global private equity arm. Previously known as the Teachers’ Innovation Platform, the arm will now operate as Teachers’ Venture Growth. The change aims to make TVG’s purpose clearer to would-be investees, according to a press release. The platform launched in 2019, beginning with an […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is one of 12 pension funds being targeted by calls to divest holdings in a KKR fund. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union has published a website calling for pension plans to divest from the KKR’s Asian Fund III. The controversy around the fund relates to its […]
The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System is selling its maritime infrastructure subsidiary. The deal with VINCI Concessions Canada Inc. will see the OMERS hand off BPC Maritime Corp., which the pension fund has held as a wholly owned subsidiary since 2003. While the exact terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, the BPC will retain its 65.1 […]
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 […]