The city council of Saint John, N.B. has voted to make a $8.7 million payment toward the city’s pension plan deficit on Monday, but that will hardly make a dent in the $129 million pension deficit. “This payment unfortunately has to be made on behalf of the taxpayers of the city and [we] have to […]
Eric Lindenbaum, senior portfolio manager with Invesco, encourages people to look at emerging markets. He feels the opportunities and growth potential in this asset class are greater for investors. Watch this video to learn more. Additionally, he says that emerging markets have gone from a niche asset class to one that is more strategic and […]
The group retirement savings division of Desjardins Financial Security (DFS) has been ranked No.1 in overall Defined Contribution Pension Asset Growth in the Fraser Group’s Pension Universe Report. “We’re very proud of this recognition by the Fraser Group,” said David Charbonneau, senior vice-president for the group retirement savings division. “Over the last few years, we’ve […]
Seeking to plug its funding gap, the sponsors of OMERS primary pension plan have approved increases to contribution rates for 2012. For members whose normal retirement age is 65, the contribution rate for earnings up to the CPP earnings limit will rise to 8.3%, up from 7.4% in 2011. For earnings over the CPP limit, […]
There’s little room for luxury in higher education, and even less room for the luxury of major risk in the Queen’s University Pension Plan, where caution is the watchword of the day. “Good returns are worth getting, but we’re conscious of the fact that we don’t want to take big risks and get hurt as […]
DB pension plans carry many types of risk including investment risk, asset-liability mismatch, longevity risk, demographic risk and inflation risk, and this puts smaller plans at a disadvantage. Because of their smaller asset base, it’s difficult to diversify the investment risk among many different asset classes like larger plans can do. At the same time, […]
The Benefits Canada 2011 ranking of the Top 100 Pension Funds paints an encouraging picture. With 97 of the listed funds posting increases in pension assets for the year, many plans are recovering nicely from the economic turmoil they faced just three years ago. Still, the funded status of the average Canadian pension plan was […]
Watch this video Since the announcement of pooled registered pension plans (PRPPs) by the Federal government, plan sponsors and industry experts have been supportive of the idea. However, everyone is curious, and a bit cautious, to see just how they will work in practice. Frank Swedlove, president of the Canadian Life and Health Assurance Association, […]
The last decade has been unpleasant for DB pension plans, even before the 2008 market crash. The Great Recession further exacerbated these challenges as global equity markets tumbled and central banks around the world lowered interest rates to stimulate the global economy. This caused their liabilities to increase while their investments declined. To make matters […]
A Buck Consultants Advisory out today reminds pension plan sponsors that Ontario and Quebec multi-jurisdictional plans will be subject to the new Agreement Respecting Multi-Jurisdictional Pension, effective July 1. Rules under the new agreement The new agreement provides that multi-jurisdictional pension plans will be supervised by the regulator of the jurisdiction (the “major authority”) with […]