The CFA Institute has announced that Bob Litterman will be the recipient of this year’s Nicholas Molodovsky Award. The award recognizes his work in developing the Black-Litterman Global Asset Allocation Model, a key tool used to produce a set of expected returns within the mean-variance optimization framework. Litterman is currently head of Goldman Sachs’s risk […]
Global sustainable investment is not only the right thing to do for the planet, but it produces better returns as well, according to TD Asset Management vice-president and director Ari Levy. At a seminar at the Suites at One King West in Toronto on Monday, he explained that the notion of socially responsible investing (SRI) […]
DundeeWealth has agreed to buy a 60% stake in Toronto-based institutional money manager Aurion Capital Management. Exact figures were not disclosed, but the deal involves both cash and common shares of DundeeWealth, a portion of which will be payable after three years and subject to the retention of key members of the Aurion team. Aurion […]
Investors in Canada’s third-party asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) market will have to wait until mid-May for a ruling on the fairness of the restructuring plan, according to the judge presiding over the case. Ontario Superior Court Justice Colin Campbell was due to hold a hearing on the restructuring plan on Friday, but said he would […]
The government of Newfoundland and Labrador has introduced an amendment to the Pension Benefits Act (PBA), requiring plan sponsors to fully fund any deficits on wind up. Presently, the PBA requires a plan sponsor to contribute up to the date of wind up, after which any new deficits identified are not the responsibility of the […]
RBC has completed its acquisition of Phillps, Hager & North, making RBC one of the top five managers in the Canadian institutional market for defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans, and a leading provider to endowments and foundations. The acquisition also makes RBC the largest retail mutual fund company in Canada with more than […]
A nationwide survey of insurers and Blue Cross agencies suggests that Canadian private healthcare plans continue to face steep cost increases in 2008. The results of the Canadian Health Care Trend Survey recently released by Buck Consultants show that, despite a slight dip in the overall trend last year, cost increases for combined prescription […]
As pension funds demand a wider range of investment solutions, money managers are looking for ways to branch out and expand their current offerings. Deals such as RBC’s acquisition of Phillips, Hager & North may be just the tip of the iceberg as many managers face a difficult choice: adapt or sell. Now is not […]
Increasing stress rates in the workplace are not only detrimental to the well-being of workers, but are costly to employers as well, according to a survey. The Desjardins Financial Security Survey on Health states that 83% of Canadians have attended work while sick or exhausted an average of six times per year, severely limiting their […]
Pension plan sponsors are integrating the successful investment strategies employed by endowments and foundations, including strategies for closely matching plan assets to pension liabilities, according to a recent report by Greenwich Associates. The 2008 Greenwich Associates U.S. Asset Allocation Report reveals that pension plan sponsors are making significant changes to their portfolios. “What we’re seeing […]