Strong investment returns of 13% in 2009 were not enough to bolster the fortunes of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Teachers’), which is now facing unfunded liabilities of $17.1 billion. The year saw the fund’s assets rise to $96.4 billion, more than four percentage points over its benchmarked return. However, its traditional allocation stalwarts—private equity, infrastructure […]
Institutional investors around the world are pushing back against a hedge fund practice that isolates up to 10% of an investor’s assets, according to a survey. Credit Suisse’s Annual Hedge Fund Investor Survey, representing a combined US$1 trillion of funds under management, finds that institutional investors are challenging hedge fund managers over redemption fees and […]
Falling asset values and low interest rates conspired to pull down the average funding ratio of Canadian pension funds in 2009, according to research by Greenwich Associates. The consulting firm notes that funding ratios declined to an average of 90% in 2009 from 99% in 2008, partly due to a 17% year-to-year reduction in asset […]
Quebec Finance Minister Raymond Bachand tabled his 2010–2011 provincial budget on March 30, 2010. According to Towers Watson, the budget proposes measures to reduce the government’s deficit over the next few years while taking into account the impact of an aging population. Highlights of the budget include the following: • a progressive rise in the […]
Canada’s insurance and health industry believes the country’s retirement system is far from broken, and that individuals simply need more incentive to save for themselves. The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association’s (CLHIA) latest report, Saving More for the Future: An Achievable Goal for Canadians offers recommendations that tinker with the existing retirement structure—such as […]
The release of Ontario’s 2010 budget will come mostly as good news to plan sponsors of defined benefit (DB) pension plans. References to pension reform and innovation abound, as do promises to hold consultations. However, there are no references to defined contribution (DC) plans and no firm commitments on any issue. Pensions Ontario Finance Minister […]
Federal finance minister Jim Flaherty has announced the launch of cross-country and online consultations aimed at engaging Canadians on ideas for possible reform of the federal retirement system. Ideas collected during the campaign will be discussed at the next meeting of federal, provincial and territorial ministers of finance in May, where the retirement income system […]
Media reports from Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. this week are pointing to a creaky global public retirement system that is chronically underfunded and possibly unsustainable. Canadian Treasury Board president Stockwell Day hinted on Monday that the federal government has plans for a two-tier pension system for civil servants, explaining to a House of […]
The former governor of the Bank of Canada warns that Canadians need a reality check when it comes to saving for retirement. In a report for the C.D. Howe Institute, The Piggy Bank Index: Matching Canadians’ Saving Rates to Their Retirement Dreams David Dodge—along with Alexandre Laurin and Colin Busby—challenge the laissez-faire attitude often displayed […]
The shift from defined benefit (DB) pension plans to defined contribution (DC) plans by plan sponsors around the world presents a range of challenges for global retirement markets, including the transfer of risk, regulation and new DC plan models, according to a recent State Street report. Pensions: Strengthening the DC Model for the Future explores […]