The cryptocurrency-friendly administration of President-elect Donald Trump and an expanding lobbying effort in statehouses could push states to become more open to crypto and lead public pension funds and treasuries to buy into it. Many bitcoin enthusiasts and investors are quick to say government-backed currencies are prone to devaluation and increased government buy-ins will stabilize […]
In 2022, U.S. retiree spending — driven by private and public sector defined benefit pension payouts — generated US$1.5 trillion in total economic output and supported 7.1 million jobs, according to a new report by the National Institute on Retirement Security. It found in addition to the impact on employment and economic activity, DB pension […]
The swift removal of the chief executive officer, three executives and the 11-person board at the Alberta Investment Management Corp. is a dramatic move that raises red flags about the influence of Alberta’s provincial government, says Anthony Guindon, a partner at Koskie Minsky LLP. “We don’t entirely know at this stage but it makes one […]
An article on Citigroup Inc.’s new parental and caregiver leave programs for U.S. employees was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com this past week. Here are the top five human resources, benefits, pension and investment stories of the last week: 1. Citigroup enhancing parental leave, introducing caregiver leave for U.S., Puerto Rico employees 2. Caisse invests $35M in energy […]
The estimated funded ratio of U.S. state and municipal pension plans is expected to increase to 80.6 per cent in 2024 due to the outperformance of investment targets, according to a new report by Equable Institute. The report, which analyzed trends in benefits, cash flows, contributions, funding and investments at 245 of the largest U.S. […]
The recent pressure put on Canadian pensions plans from private managers and governments to re-discover an investment home bias has been met with little enthusiasm, despite special interest by both federal and provincial governments to potentially tap pension fund capital for infrastructure given that current expenditure eats up a large share of the budget. Infrastructure […]
In its 2024 budget on Tuesday, the Ontario government reiterated its support for a provincial infrastructure bank to leverage public sector pension investments. The bank, renamed the Building Ontario Fund, was announced in the province’s 2023 fall economic statement and will support the development of new long‐term care homes, energy infrastructure, affordable housing, municipal and […]
Three of Canada’s largest pension plans are among the top 10 pension funds that generated the largest compound annualized returns between 2013 and 2022, according to a report by data platform Global SWF. The report, which measured the compound annual growth rate of pension funds’ single-year investment returns between fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2022, found […]
Legislation that mandates the transfer of five New Brunswick public sector defined benefit pension plans to a shared-risk model goes into effect today. The Pension Plan Sustainability and Transfer Act, which received royal assent in December, will impact more than 7,800 active members enrolled in five plans serving school board and nursing home employees and […]
U.S. public sector defined benefit pension plans that have switched to a defined contribution model have experienced negative cash flows and increased costs and employee turnover, according to a new report by the National Institute on Retirement Security. The report analyzed five public sector pension plans including those in Alaska, Michigan and West Virginia. It […]