Growing institutional interest in socially responsible investing(SRI)has pushed SRI assets in Canada up to $503.6 billion, according to a study by the Social Investment Organization(SIO). That’s a 669% increase over the $65.5 billion in assets two years ago. The study, entitled Canadian Socially Responsible Investment Review, says the increase in assets is largely the result […]
Ontario’s expert commission on pensions has released a discussion paper that raises a number of issues. Much of the paper concerns issues listed in the commission’s detailed mandate, such as employee defined benefit(DB)plans offered by employers. These are issues concerning which the commission must and will make recommendations. A second set of issues has to […]
Institutional investors are allocating a larger portion of their portfolio to hedge fund investments, a study has found. The study, conducted by State Street and the 2006 Global Absolute Return Congress, found that 96% of investors made hedge fund investments last year, up from 84% in 2005. Sixty-four percent allocated 5% or more of their […]
The 2007 budget proposal to increase the age limit for unwinding registered pension plans (RPPs) or RRSPs to 71 from 69 is not long enough, says Steve Bonnar, a principal with Towers Perrin. “It’s not fully sufficient. Age 71 is still too young in an environment where we’re going to have labour shortages broadly,” he […]
Institutional investors are more confident in March than they were last month, according to a survey. The State Street Investor Confidence Index increased sharply by 10.0 points to 100.6 from February’s revised reading of 90.6. The strong increase in the confidence of global institutional investors can be traced back to the market turmoil that began […]
Proxy voting can be timeconsuming and expensive for pension plan trustees, but handing the responsibility over to investment managers without giving direction on how to vote could lead to trouble down the road. A recent survey by the Shareholder Association for Research and Education(SHARE)showed that the majority of pension plan trustees let investment managers make […]
Pension benefits paid to retirees rose to $7.5 billion in the third quarter of 2006, according to Statistics Canada. Payments have been rising steadily over the past few years as more people have begun retiring. Year-to-date payments are up 6% when compared over the same period in 2005 and 7.5% over 2004. The market value […]
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System(CalPERS)has cited 11 underperforming companies for dismal stock performance and poor governance practice. The firms on its annual focus list are Sara Lee, Eli Lilly, Tribune, International Paper, Tenet Healthcare, EMC, Dollar Tree Stores, Corinthian Colleges, Kellwood, Sanmina-SCI, and Marsh & McLennan, the parent company of Mercer. “The long-term performance […]
Plan sponsors are more inclined to practice socially responsible investing(SRI), according to a survey. Morneau Sobeco’s 60 Second Survey finds that 59% of plan sponsors think it’s possible to practice SRI without compromising a pension fund’s goal of maximizing returns. When asked which type of social screen was most important, 48% said good corporate governance, […]
Towers Perrin has acquired Chicago-based ISR, an employee research and consulting firm. “The union of Towers Perrin and ISR will greatly energize our research and product development activities,” says ISR chairman and CEO Jack Stanek. ISR has more than 200 employees working in 10 offices, including Canada. Its services include surveys on full-scale employee opinion, […]