After several years of development, two long-awaited national health-care initiatives are finally taking shape, raising questions about their impact to employer-sponsored benefits plans. In May, the Canadian Dental Care Plan was officially rolled out, providing dental coverage to Canadians who don’t have access to private dental insurance and whose annual net family income is less […]
Market expansion in 2021 is a priority among Canada’s defined contribution pension consultants, according to a new survey by PIMCO Canada. The inaugural survey, conducted across 12 major DC consulting and advisory firms that serve roughly 2,500 Canadian plan sponsor clients, found up-market expansion and down-market expansion in 2021 were the top strategic priorities among […]
The majority (72 per cent) of Canadian pension funds said they’re currently focused on consolidation options that offer greater certainty they’ll be able to meet their liabilities, according to a survey by CIBC Mellon. It also found 50 per cent of pension funds surveyed plan on implementing consolidation plans over the next three to five […]
Canadian pension funds are seeing significant cost savings from in-house asset management but are still relying on external managers, according to a new survey from CIBC Mellon. It found among funds that have taken asset management in-house, 66 per cent said they achieved savings. Of those, 91 per cent reported more than 10 per cent […]
Canada’s pension funds are shifting asset management functions in-house while becoming more strategic about oversight of external managers, according to a new survey from CIBC Mellon. It found pension funds are increasing the portion of assets and investment activities managed in-house to 28 per cent from 22 per cent, with the majority of pension funds […]
Over the last 20 years, managing a pension plan has looked a little like riding a roller coaster — with the 2001 technology bubble, 2008/09 financial crisis and the recent coronavirus market volatility providing sudden, gut-wrenching drops that can draw a scream from even the heartiest of souls. “From an investment standpoint, we’ve been in […]
The current market environment has the potential for long-term effects on the defined benefit pension investment industry, according to a new report by Cerulli Associates. Broadly, investment consultants said they’ve been preparing their DB pension plan sponsor clients for a potential downturn for up to two years, noted the report. And, as plans have begun […]
The holiday season is a time to reflect on the events of 2019 and how they may affect trends in the year to come. I predict a couple of trends on the pension landscape in 2020: much needed progress on the expansion of decumulation options and the outsourcing of the chief investment officer function. Expansion of […]
In the investment space, readers were focused on the moves of the big public pension funds and real estate investment in 2019, with the top three most-read stories tackling those topics. Benefits Canada rounds up the industry’s favourite investment stories of the year: 1. Canadian DB plans return median 1.7 per cent in Q3 2. Hugh O’Reilly stepping down from OPTrust 3. OPTrust partners […]
While an outsourced chief investment officer model may be the right option for a pension plan under particular circumstances, circumstances can change. Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co. took on an OCIO structure several years ago, but changes within the company made the model less appropriate over time, said Wes Peters, the company’s vice-president of investments, during […]