The average Canadian defined benefit pension plan lost ground on a solvency and accountancy basis in December, according to LifeWorks Inc.’s latest monthly report. At the end of 2022, the solvency index reached 103.8 per cent, down 3.1 per cent from the end of November. The balance sheet index also fell 2.4 per cent — […]
The aggregate funded ratio for Canadian defined benefit pension plans increased from 96.9 per cent to 100.8 per cent during 2022, according to Aon’s latest pension risk tracker. The tracker, which calculates the aggregate funded position on an accounting basis for companies in the S&P/TSX composite index with DB plans, also found pension assets lost […]
The average solvency ratio of Canadian defined benefit pension plans grew by 10 per cent in 2022, according to a new report by Mercer Canada. The report, which looked at the overall 2022 performance of more than 500 Canadian DB plans in the consultancy’s pension database, found the median solvency ratio reached 113 per cent […]
The strength of the U.S. dollar and the ongoing war in Europe will hamper North American and other global institutional investors in 2023, though some will still find value in other continents, according to a new report from the Capital Group Inc. “Even if you think economies outside Canada and the U.S. are headed for […]
The Alberta Investment Management Corp. has received a top grade in a survey of the environmental, social and governance integration and performance of signatories of the United Nations’ principles of responsible investing in 2021. The PRI, an organization founded by a group of institutional investment organizations, launched the pilot survey to track the ESG performance […]
If there was one message for defined benefit pension plan sponsor delegates at the 2022 Defined Benefit Investment Forum, it was that the fate of global markets in 2023 is on a knife’s edge. In the keynote address, Douglas Porter, chief economist and managing director at BMO Financial Group, said he expects the Canadian economy […]
Consensus expectations for U.S. inflation and interest rates in 2023 are overly optimistic, said Robert Forsyth, head of SPDR exchange-traded funds strategy and research at State Street Global Advisors SPDR, during a session at the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2022 Defined Benefit Investment Forum. “Our view is that the futures market is still pricing in an […]
A bill intended to provide defined benefit pension plan members with super-priority should be a major concern for Canadian DB plan sponsors, according to LifeWorks Inc.’s latest monthly pension indices report. “While the goal of [Bill C-228] is to protect the pensions of members and retirees in the event of a company’s insolvency, it could […]
While the vast majority (85 per cent) of institutional investors believe the economy is in a recession or will enter a recession next year, two-thirds (65 per cent) think stagflation is the bigger risk ahead, according to a survey by Natixis Investment Managers. The survey, which polled 500 institutional investors across the globe, found more than half […]
The possibility of a global economic slowdown is of greater concern to global institutional investors than rising inflation, according to a new survey from the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum. The survey, which polled investors at public pension plans and sovereign wealth funds with combined assets of about US$27 trillion, were asked to rank the […]