Defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors in the U.K. might agree that better communication with plan members is integral to the plan’s success, but most lack a communications policy or don’t implement the one they have, according to a survey. Mercer’s latest DC survey of 354 U.K. plan sponsors finds that while 68% of respondents […]
There’s a global shift in the asset allocations of institutional investors afoot toward riskier, less liquid assets, according to a recent survey. bfinance’s latest Pension Funds & Insurance Asset Allocation Survey of institutional investors in Europe and North America finds that among core asset classes, the three-year outlook for equity continues to slide while bullishness […]
In spite of provincial efforts at containing the price of pharmaceuticals, overall healthcare costs for Canadian employer plans are expected to rise 15% in 2010—the highest growth rate in five years, a recent survey reveals. Buck Consultants’ 2010 Canadian Healthcare Trend Survey finds that pharmaceuticals—which represent 60% to 70% of health expenditures—remain the fastest-increasing expense […]
A Quebec retiree’s advocacy group is hopping mad at the compensation awarded to the chief of communications at province’s largest fund manager, which far exceeds his North American counterparts. QMI Agency reported Thursday that Denis Couture, executive vice-president of public affairs with the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is earning a salary of […]
The French government has moved to tackle the tough issue of retirement in Europe, where workers are reluctantly coming around to the idea that they will have to work longer due to the continent’s shaky economy. French workers—perhaps aware of the coming changes—are the most pessimistic of EU member states about their prospects of early […]
Pensions woke up this morning to find themselves a political issue. Perhaps it’s only natural, considering the solution to our pension woes will be imposed by the government. Still, it is strange to see Alberta’s Finance Minister—whose predecessor (from the same government) was one of the most ardent supporters of federal leadership on the issue—isolate […]
In what may become an avalanche of litigation, BP PLC is being sued by two U.S. pension funds for its role in the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. Fifteen directors of BP—including CEO Tony Hayward and chair Carl-Henric Svanberg—are named as defendants in the suits, brought forward by the Louisiana Municipal Police Employees Retirement System, which […]
Defined benefit (DB) pension plans face a bleak future in the U.K., as nearly every DB plan sponsor expects to make cuts to its plan in the future, a recent survey reveals. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) survey of 179 major employers finds that only 6% of companies expect to retain their DB plans in their current form, […]
Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty spent Monday selling the merits of a beefed-up Canada Pension Plan (CPP) to his provincial counterparts at the ministers’ meeting in Lakeside, P.E.I. And from the look of early reports, it seems he won them over. Flaherty told reporters that a majority of provincial finance ministers were on board with […]
An RBC Dexia Investor Services poll finds that 92% of DB plan sponsors give two thumbs down to the progress displayed by federal and provincial governments on the pension portfolio. “Whether it’s closed-door meetings, open letters from pension plan powerhouses or our surveys, Canadian pension plan sponsors are looking for more definitive decisions regarding pension […]