Amid continued uncertainty, investors are branching out from the traditional Canadian bond market in search of yield and diversification. Although two consecutive interest rate hikes by the Bank of Canada this year prompted a spike in yields for short-term bonds, Kathrin Forrest, portfolio manager at Sun Life Global Investments Canada Inc., said the move, which […]
Technology will be the key to helping individuals make better retirement decisions in a world dominated by defined contribution pensions. That was a key message delivered by Chip Castille, the managing director of BlackRock Inc.’s global retirement strategy group, during a session at the 2017 Defined Contribution Investment Forum. He told the audience that the […]
Employers should tread carefully before embracing more complex investment options for their defined contribution plans, according to a speaker at the recent Defined Contribution Investment Forum. Speaking during a session at the Oct. 6 conference, John Croke, head of multi-asset product management at the Vanguard Group Inc., said he could understand why plan administrators watch […]
Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald wants to challenge the many rules of thumb she says are misleading and potentially harmful when it comes to retirement security. MacDonald, a senior research fellow at Ryerson University’s National Institute of Ageing and resident scholar at Eckler Ltd., told an audience at the Benefits Canada Defined Contribution Investment Forum 2017 that Canada’s […]
Automatic solutions in plan design can help fiduciaries to fulfil their obligations to defined contribution plan members, according to Ruthann Pritchard, an institutional portfolio manager at Fidelity Investments. Speaking at Benefits Canada’s Defined Contribution Investment Forum in Toronto this month, Pritchard explained that the fiduciary duty owed by plan sponsors demands that they act in […]
Jason White wants to see Canadians getting a healthier dose of braised duck in their investment diets. White, a portfolio specialist in the equity division at T. Rowe Price Group Inc., singled out fast-food chain Zhou Hei Ya, which has turned the street-food staple into a mainstream hit on the Chinese mainland, as a classic […]
Defined contribution plan administrators that want to boost members’ financial behaviour should follow the lead of superstitious sports stars by embracing the surprising power of rituals, according to a Toronto management consultant. Kelly Peters, chief executive officer of BEworks Inc., told attendees at the Benefits Canada’s Defined Contribution Investment Forum in Toronto on Friday that it’s […]
A group of retired public servants learned the hard way just how difficult it can be to mount a constitutional challenge to benefits changes, according to a Toronto lawyer. In Bemister v. Canada (Attorney General), retired members of the voluntary public service health-care plan, which also covers active federal employees, claimed a move to double […]
Pension plan administrators should get used to dealing with requests for their actuarial documents while lawyers duke it out over just how confidential they are, according to a pension lawyer. Natasha Monkman, a pension lawyer at Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP, says plan administrators have traditionally viewed financial information filed with their provincial regulators […]
British Columbia’s pension regulator is cracking down on vague termination expense assumptions over fears unrealistic calculations have caused some plans to overstate their solvency ratios. “We’re becoming a little more rigorous in our expectations,” says Michael Peters, the acting superintendent of pensions at the Financial Institutions Commission of British Columbia in Vancouver. Guidance issued […]