Anyone flipping through a prospectus for an employer’s defined contribution pension plan or group registered retirement savings plan will notice a recurring theme when it comes to statements on investment fees: “Better than retail!” they might as well scream. It’s a familiar refrain from both capital accumulation plan sponsors and providers trumpeting the lower rates […]
Many employees in the non-profit sector dedicate their lives to helping others. In 2008, a new pension plan was launched to help provide them with a lifetime benefit upon retirement. Michel Lizée, now an independent trustee and pension committee secretary for the Régime de retraite des groupes communautaires et de femmes — or the Community […]
What do global institutional investors expect in the coming year? It’s not a rosy picture. According to Natixis Investment Managers’ annual institutional investment outlook, just 12 per cent of institutional investors surveyed said they believe global gross domestic product will bounce back to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels by the end of 2021. Meanwhile, 79 per cent […]
A group of Canadian pension plan investment managers is calling on companies to standardize their environmental, social and governance disclosure to help them in their investment decision-making and better assess and manage their risks. Together, the eight fund managers oversee a total of about $1.6 trillion in assets and are committing to strengthening ESG disclosure within […]
The Toronto Transit Commission Pension Fund Society has been reminded of the importance of liquidity during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Sean Hewitt, the fund’s chief executive officer, during a virtual roundtable hosted by the Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute on Thursday. “COVID-19 was a really interesting test study in liquidity,” he said, noting the TTC plan […]
In search of better risk-adjusted returns, the York University Pension Fund decided to look beyond Canada’s borders, shifting its equity allocation to be 100 per cent global. The fund is a hybrid defined benefit and defined contribution plan, with the benefit level depending on the rate of return and a minimum guarantee for members. Its investments, […]
Defined benefit plan sponsors can’t predict the future — but with a provision for adverse deviation, they can at least plan for it. “Given the work that actuaries do, where it’s all about quantifying risks and all these unknowns, it’s always best to be conservative,” says Andrew Gillies, partner and consultant at Robertson, Eadie & […]
Demand for defined benefit pension plan sponsors to focus on environmental, social and governance factors through their investments is growing. Both plan sponsors and members have been increasingly vocal about keeping ESG issues top of mind. For example, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan has worked on balancing this increased appetite for ethical investing with an overall […]
As bond yields drop, many Canadian pension plans are looking at new strategies to increase returns through alternative investments, according to a webinar hosted by the Portfolio Management Association of Canada on Tuesday. “We’re looking for uncorrelated scalable risk, with low or no correlation to major markets like equity or credit,” said Jane Segal, portfolio […]
Now is the time for institutional investors to buy value, small cap and cyclical stocks and hold steady while the economy builds back, says Bill Callahan, an investment strategist at Schroders. Indeed, energy and financial sector stocks saw gains Monday as investors are rotating from growth and large cap stocks after Moderna Inc. released data […]