When the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan started to zero in on environmental, social and governance issues, it began by asking why these subjects were worth pursuing in the first place. “We started this journey 10 years ago,” said Barbara Zvan, chief risk and strategy officer at the Ontario Teachers’, during a session at the Canadian Investment […]
The Canada Life Assurance Co. is eliminating plastic drug plan cards, with an aim to move to a completely digital experience for group plan members by 2021. Beginning Jan. 1, 2020, the insurer will begin encouraging its group benefits plan sponsors to opt out of providing plastic drug cards to members. With advancements in digital […]
The rise in alternative investing combined with an increased focus on integrating environmental, social and governance considerations into the investment process is leading pension plans to a natural question: how can they integrate ESG in real estate portfolios? The buildings sector has one of the highest carbon footprints, said Derek Warren, vice-president and portfolio manager […]
The majority (70 per cent) of global institutional investors agree that sustainability will play a more important role in investments over the next five years, according to a new survey by Schroders. The survey, which polled 650 investors responsible for US$25.4 trillion under management, found this response was most prevalent in Europe (84 per cent) and Asia Pacific […]
While medical advancements and drug therapy innovations have been life-changing for patients and plan members, they also come with increasing costs, said Victoria Shaw, drug benefits manager at Alberta Blue Cross, speaking at Benefits Canada’s 2019 Calgary Drug Trends Summit on Oct. 24. Between 2011 to 2017, the number of high-cost drugs doubled. From 2016 to 2017, in […]
A plethora of overlapping terms can make a conversation about responsible investing something of a minefield. While there are many terms that are used interchangeably, there are slight differences to them, said Liza McDonald, head of responsible investment at First State Super, in a video series hosted by Willis Towers Watson’s Thinking Ahead Institute. For […]
Canada’s retirement system jumped one spot to ninth place in Melbourne Mercer’s annual global pension index. Comparing 37 global retirement systems, the report found the Canadian system showed improvement partly due to the growth in assets under the Canada Pension Plan and the Quebec Pension Plan. It also demonstrated a link between the increasing household debt in developed and […]
Globally, institutional investors are shifting more of their assets to an environmental, social and governance-based approach, with year-over-year increases in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., according to a new survey by RBC Global Asset Management. Regionally, the percentage of survey respondents that reported using ESG principles “significantly” as opposed to “somewhat” rose slightly in […]
The majority (85 per cent) of global investment professionals said responsible investing is at least somewhat important to their organization, up from 68 per cent in 2018, according to a new survey by Aon. The survey found this growth occurred across all geographic regions and institutional investor types, including corporate pension plans, public pensions, defined […]
A group of institutional investors, including numerous large Canadian defined benefit pension plans, has released a handbook outlining their experiences implementing the recommendations from the task force on climate-related financial disclosures. The Canadian plans include the Alberta Investment Management Corp., the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the […]