Other Brieflies this week:| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | Although employer medical costs in the United States have risen steadily for decades, the rate of growth has been slowing in each of the past five years until now, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute report. The report—Behind the Numbers: […]
Other Brieflies this week:| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | Investing in frontier markets—markets that aren’t yet emerging markets—is easier now, thanks to the launch of a new exchange traded fund (ETF). The Claymore/BNY Mellon Frontier Markets ETF began trading on NYSE Arca on Thursday. Based on the Bank of New […]
Other Brieflies this week:| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | The new $205 million Ontario Venture Capital Fund is open for business. Announced last November, the fund is a limited partnership between institutional investors (OMERS Capital Partners, RBC Capital Partners, Manulife Financial, Business Development Bank of Canada and TD Bank Financial […]
The common assumption that plan sponsors are the only ones who bear the investment risk in defined benefit (DB) pension plans isn’t true as employees also bear some risk, according to a study. The C.D. Howe Institute study, Risky Assumptions: A Closer Look at the Bearing of Investment Risk in Defined-Benefit Pension Plans, notes that […]
Other Brieflies this week:| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | Manulife Financial has announced its newest innovation for group retirement savings clients with the launch of Group IncomePlus. Following the 2006 release of Manulife’s IncomePlus GIF Select for individuas, group retirement savings clients said there was a need for a comparable […]
Other Brieflies this week:| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | Vancouver is the most desirable city to live in Canada and the fourth best in the world, according to Mercer’s 2008 Quality of Life Survey. Other Canadian cities in the top 25 include Toronto (15), Ottawa (19), Montreal (22) and Calgary […]
Other Brieflies this week:| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | The average hourly wage in May was 4.8% higher than a year earlier and well above the most recent increase of 1.7% in consumer prices, says Statistics Canada. According to its labour force survey, year-over-year increases in average hourly wages have […]
Other Brieflies this week:| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has sanctioned the plan to restructure $32-billion of third-party asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) issued by 20 of the conduits that are the subject of last summer’s Montreal Accord. Justice Colin Campbell also accepted a proposed […]
The board of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) met Wednesday to reconsider whether it should invest in tobacco companies. But it decided to postpone making a decision for a future meeting once its staff provides more information on the risks of making an investment in the tobacco industry again. Eight years ago, the […]
Other Brieflies this week:| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | Despite the commitment to build real and lasting change brought about by the 2003 Accord on Health Care Renewal, progress falls short of what could—and should—have been achieved by this time, finds a report of the Health Council of Canada. Its […]