The viability of a public defined benefit pension plan is best judged by its fiscal sustainability rather than its overall liabilities, according to a new report by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems. The report, written by Michael Kahn, director of research at the NCPERS (pictured right), found fiscally sustainable pension plans have […]
The end of Canada’s quantitative easing strategy and higher than expected interest rates will be beneficial to Canadian defined benefit pension plans, according to Sebastien Betermier, an associate professor of finance at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management. On Wednesday, Tiff Macklem, governor of the Bank of Canada, announced plans to end its quantitative easing policy and […]
Increasing yield for long-term government bonds and a flat credit spread through the third quarter of 2021 are driving up defined benefit pension liabilities, according to a new report by Aon. In the third quarter of 2021, long-term Government of Canada bond yields increased by 14 basis points while credit spreads remained largely unchanged. According […]
Despite market upheaval as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the Canadian pension risk transfer market had its third-best year for group annuity transactions, according to Eckler Ltd.’s latest report. By the end of 2020, pension risk transfer market transactions totalled $4.45 billion, only slightly behind 2018’s $4.5 billion but below 2019’s $5.2 billion, noted the report. […]
Two experts weigh in on the merits and drawbacks of taking the traditional annuities route versus opting for the newer do-it-yourself option. Marco Dickner, retirement risk management leader for Willis Towers Watson in Canada Although annuity purchases have become an important pension risk management option over the last decade, a countertrend is emerging for plan […]
The recent announcement that General Motors of Canada Co. purchased $1.8 billion of annuities for its salaried pension plan is creating a lot of excitement. GM Canada joins a growing list of plan sponsors who’ve purchased sizeable annuities in the last few years: Stelco Inc. ($885 million), Alcoa Corp. ($750 million), Rio Tinto Group ($560 […]
General Motors of Canada Co. is transferring the longevity risk for $1.8 billion in pension plan liabilities through a group annuity buyout. Jennifer Wright, director of communications at GM Canada, said in a statement that the automaker has been taking steps to reduce risk and strengthen its retirement plans with a view to protecting the […]
Demand grows as firms look to shed pension liabilities.