Plan administrators are eyeing the Bank of Canada’s current system that holds unclaimed bank balances for individuals as a possible solution to dealing with missing pension plan members. As the federal Department of Finance launches a consultation on modernizing the bank’s program, law firm Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP sees promise in extending its approach to […]
The Canadian dollar has risen dramatically since the beginning of May, which could have harsh implications for overseas assets held by Canadian pension funds. “Given the low price of oil and low Canadian interest rates, I don’t think there was necessarily a perception that the loonie was headed significantly stronger in 2017, so I would […]
Girls are “made of sugar and spice and everything nice — and gunpowder and Cubans and bourbon, no ice.” So sang Columbia Business School students in a 2014 parody music video about gender representation in their industry. But while many women now do the same jobs as men, their employment patterns remain distinct and, as […]
The gross income replacement level of a typical capital accumulation plan grew by one per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to a report by Eckler Ltd. The slight change was due to increases in interest and annuity rates during that period, according to the report, which also notes the impact of volatility […]
Seventy-seven per cent of Canadian employees would leave their jobs for better retirement support, according to new research by ADP Canada. The survey, which polled 862 Canadian employees, found that respondents in British Columbia are the most likely (88 per cent) to leave their job for better pension or retirement support elsewhere. Read: 71% of […]
During the DC Plan Summit, participants broke off into small groups to discuss the major challenges facing plan sponsors. Here are some highlights of the sessions and key takeaways for participants: Moderator: Janice Holman, principal, Eckler Topic: Rethinking DC contributions: An individualized approach Employers often differentiate their total rewards based on personal factors such as […]
In recent years, Canada’s largest companies have struggled with the inherent ups and downs of managing risk in their defined benefit pension plans. Two employer-sponsored pensions in particular — despite experiencing similar types of labour strife, government intervention and plan redesign — have so far embarked on very different investment strategies to suit their businesses […]
A comparison of pension systems in Canada and Britain isn’t an apples-to-apples exercise — or even apples to grapefruits. But when it comes to pension reform, there are definitely overarching lessons for Canada. Britain’s reforms, of which auto-enrolment is a signature component, got underway in October 2012 with the country’s largest employers mandated to automatically […]
Of the 114 multinational companies that participated in the last Mercer global benefits governance survey, 84 per cent of respondents said they believed their existing global benefits governance structures were insufficient to meet current and future needs. In light of this finding, how do other Canadian-based multinational companies manage their global benefits plans and, more […]
In a move that has drawn significant attention in the pension community, Quebec has introduced a potential solution to a major conundrum for employers: how to keep their costly defined benefit pension plans sustainable in the long run. Under the new legislation, the province no longer requires defined benefit plans to fund themselves based on […]