Hub International Ltd. has acquired yet another benefits brokerage: Quebec-based Les Avantages Sociaux Delta Inc. Based in the Montreal area, Delta provides support and actuarial services for group insurance and retirement plans, as well as human resources and disability management. With the acquisition, Delta will join Hub’s Quebec business. Delta’s founder and chairman, Roger d’Eschambault, […]
Upcoming enhancements coming to the Canada Pension Plan will lead to a reduction in investment in Canadian enterprises, a new paper from the Fraser Institute argues. The paper noted the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has shown an increasing preference for foreign investments, with 83.5 per cent of the fund’s assets outside of Canada in […]
A suite of additional features planned for the Canada Pension Plan will mean an extra $900 million in costs by 2050, Canada’s chief actuary is estimating. Earlier this week, chief actuary Jean-Claude Ménard released a new report on the state of the Canada Pension Plan in light of additions agreed to by Canada’s finance ministers […]
More than three-quarters (78 per cent) of North American employees and retirees with pension plans said the availability of those benefits was a major factor in deciding whether to accept a job, according to a new survey by Accenture. Its survey, which polled nearly 3,000 Canadian and U.S. workers, also found that pensions remained a loyalty factor after […]
A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. That’s the point Bonnie-Jean MacDonald, senior research fellow at National Institute of Ageing at Ryerson University and resident scholar at Eckler Ltd., drove home in a session at Benefits Canada‘s Benefits & Pensions Summit in Toronto on Tuesday. She took the example of one of her […]
Most Canadian employers have yet to take action to prepare for the incoming changes to the Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan, according to a survey by Aon. The survey found just 17 per cent of the 325 organizations polled have started to make plans to accommodate the changes. More than a third (37 […]
At Benefits Canada’s Defined Contribution Plan Summit in Montreal in February, member engagement and communication were a clear focus of many of the presentations. Case studies presented at the conference provided a number of solutions. Larry Schmidt, director of human resources at U.S.-based Searles Valley Minerals Inc., noted his company used automatic enrolment and escalation […]
When it comes to the difficult issue of equity in pension plans, Quebec has been at the forefront recently with its plan to table a bill to eliminate so-called disparity clauses. The province’s plan, which has significant union support, has drawn the attention of Quebec’s pension industry, particularly since it would affect organizations that have […]
From governance to engagement, plan sponsors are looking for solutions to improve their defined contribution pension plans. What tools are available to plan sponsors to boost their plan outcomes and how can they put them into action With case studies from plan sponsors that have already found some of the answers and presentations by experts […]
With emotions often preventing people from acting in their own interest, nudges that lever behavioural finance theory to account for them can generate better retirement outcomes. Those were among the key messages delivered by Punam Keller, an associate dean at the Tuck School of Business in Hanover, N.H., to participants at Benefits Canada’s Defined Contribution […]