Defined contribution (DC) plan members continue to flummox plan sponsors and trustees with their behaviour. When presented with a range of choices such as investment funds and flexibility in retirement, many members regularly make poor decisions or avoid making a decision altogether. According to a new Mercer report, members are often impaired by their own […]
Canadian organizations are optimistic on the financial viability of their defined benefit (DB) plans, despite the battering they’ve received from volatile equity markets and a global recession, a recent study reveals. Towers Perrin’s study of 439 finance executives across Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. found that 71% are committed to maintaining the long-term viability […]
The U.K.’s Pensions Regulator is reaching out to trustees and employers in an effort to enable informed member choices at retirement and improve the quality of defined contribution (DC) plan sponsor engagement. “Employer engagement is central to good DC provision, states The Pensions Regulator in its Engaged employers and informed retirement choices study. “Where employers […]
The H1N1 pandemic isn’t behaving the way many business leaders expected it to, and the window of opportunity for organizations to manage the second wave of the virus is quickly closing. Ready or not: effective pandemic response, the Conference Board’s latest report on the issue, warns business leaders they need the ability to shift from […]
Institutional investors—stung by the credit crisis and market volatility present in late 2008—have become stingy with their assets and are in the process of unwinding their securities lending practices. According to the Callan 2009 Securities Lending Survey of 72 fund and plan sponsor organizations, cash collateral reinvestment losses—both realized and unrealized—are the top concern for […]
An increasing number of institutional investors are adopting socially responsible investing (SRI) into their internal and external operations in response to the global financial crisis, according to a recent report. The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Initiative—an investor partnership with the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative and the UN Global Compact — currently has 560 […]
Surging equity markets have lifted Canadian pension plan assets by 9.5% over the past three months, according to a recent survey from RBC Dexia. The survey finds that pension funds have reaped year-to-date investment gains of 6.5%. “Given last year’s brutal pull-back, plan sponsors are breathing a sigh of relief to be finally moving into […]
A special notice from Eckler Consultants is reminding Ontario-based plan sponsors that if the plan’s transfer ratio has dropped by 10% or more and is below 0.9, they must get approval from the superintendent before allowing terminating members to transfer their commuted value or buy an annuity. This new policy from the Financial Services Commission […]
The world is now at a point where environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues should be of paramount importance to institutional investors, and advisors should have a fiduciary duty to make such issues the default investment option, according to a report by the United Nations. Fiduciary responsibility: Legal and practical aspects of integrating environmental, […]
A coalition of Canadian institutional investors is quietly leaning on the country’s big banks to move away from the use of stock-based compensation. Stephen Griggs , the executive director of the Canadian Coalition of Good Governance (CCGG) explains the organization is looking to corporate leaders—beginning with banks—to institute improved governance and disclosure practices in the […]