Four types of new habits and perspectives are expected to define the post-coronavirus era and could impact investment portfolios, according to new analysis by Thinking Ahead, the thought leadership lab at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The research, co-authored by Caitlin Walsh, senior portfolio manager, and Ruby Grewal, portfolio manager, analyzed the breadth of […]
The value of assets held by Canadian trusteed pension funds fell 3.3 per cent to $2.02 trillion in the first quarter of 2020, according to new data from Statistics Canada. Despite the quarterly drop, the funds posted a year-over-year increase of 2.5 per cent. Statistics Canada’s update noted the overall decrease in the quarter was […]
Over the last several years, a small group of faculty members at the University of British Columbia has been calling on its pension plan’s board of trustees to consider divesting from fossil fuels. As support for divestment grew, the board of the UBC faculty pension plan, which is defined contribution, agreed to assess whether there […]
While Canadian pension plans hold a quiet confidence, it turns out they actually do outperform their international peers when it comes to asset performance and liability hedging, according to a research paper from McGill University and CEM Benchmarking. The paper found Canadian plans achieve this outperformance using a three-pillar model: managing assets in-house to reduce costs, redeploying […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec had a challenging first half of 2020, posting a negative 2.3 per cent return. However, the pension fund remains in a strong financial position, according to president and chief executive officer Charles Emond, holding assets of more than $333 billion and with an 8.7 per cent annualized return over […]
The Investment Management Corp. of Ontario is investing in an affordable housing fund to build apartments in Toronto and Vancouver. The IMCO is committing $60 million to the Kingsett Affordable Housing LP Fund, managed by Kingsett Capital Inc. The investment comes as vacancy rates in both cities continue to decline due to unaffordability and lack of […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec says the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic resulted in posting a negative return of 2.3 per cent during the first six months of 2020. The pension fund manager’s net assets stood at $333 billion as of June 30, down from $340.1 billion as of Dec. 31, […]
In the wake of the coronavirus fallout, real estate, infrastructure and private debt investors seem to be zeroing in on well-established managers, according to Preqin Ltd. data for the second quarter of 2020. With no surprise, real estate saw a challenging second quarter with a decline in activity in funds closing compared to the first […]
Strong public market performance helped Canadian defined benefit pension plans reverse their first-quarter losses, according to a new report by BNY Mellon Asset Management Canada. The median second quarter return for the 84 Canadian corporate, public and university pension plans in BNY Mellon’s Canadian master trust universe was 9.23 per cent, up from the first quarter median […]
The British Columbia Investment Management Corp. rounded out its fiscal year with a three per cent return, slightly underperforming its 3.3 per cent benchmark. In dollar terms, the BCI added $17.8 billion as of March 31, 2020, rounding to a total $171.3 billion in assets under management. The three per cent return represented something of […]