Proposed amendments to U.K. pension regulations could lead to the extinction of smaller defined benefit plans within 15 years, according to Charles Cowling, chief actuary at Mercer. “The potential impact of these new regulations would be significant and dramatic,” he said in a press release. “The draft proposals would force the sale of £500 billion […]
Nasdaq Inc. is appointing Bronwyn Ott as global head of well-being and benefits strategy. For the past three years, Ott was the senior vice-president of human resources at CloudMD. Previously, she was benefits, well-being, equity, diversity and inclusion leader at Unilever Canada; senior manager of benefits and global wellness strategy at Scotiabank; healthy workplace specialist […]
The Department of Finance’s proposals relating to the Income Tax Act, sales tax and other legislation adds complexity where compliance is already extremely challenging for pension plan administrators, according to Greg Hurst, managing director of Greg Hurst & Associates. In the legislative proposals, published earlier this month, the government released explanatory notes in relation to […]
Average benefits costs for U.S. employers will increase 6.5 per cent — or more than $13,800 per employee — in 2023, according to a new report by Aon. This projection is more than double the three per cent increase to health-care budgets from 2021 to 2022, but below the 9.1 inflation figure reported through the consumer price […]
The Public Sector Pension Investment Board says it dumped a significant portion of its shares in two giant technology companies during the first half of 2021. In a report to the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, the investment organization showed the total number of shares it held in Apple Inc. decreased by 680,541 during the first […]
The vast majority (90 per cent) of low to moderate income workers say they’d open a long-term savings account if they were offered incentives, according to a new survey by the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association and non-profit organization Commonwealth. The survey, which polled nearly 1,000 employees living on low to moderate incomes, found most respondents […]
The average disqualifications from employment insurance fell from 86,000 to 44,000 after the federal government implemented improved qualification criteria in September 2020 to address rising unemployment caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report from Statistics Canada. In response, Unifor is calling on the renewal of the government’s pandemic EI measures. “The report […]
The union representing employees at the City of St. John’s, N.L. ratified a collective agreement that includes enhanced bereavement leave. The agreement increases bereavement leave from three to five days for a spouse, child/stepchild or grandchild. The term “legal guardian” will be added for a three-day entitlement and an additional paid day will be included […]
A fifth (19 per cent) of U.S. employees say they’ve adjusted their retirement strategy and are taking a more conservative savings approach amid economic uncertainty, according to a new report by Fidelity Investments Inc. It found the total savings rate for the second quarter of 2022 continued the positive momentum achieved in the first quarter, […]
An article on HSBC Bank Canada’s new benefits offerings was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com over the last week. Here are the five most popular news stories of the week: 1. HSBC adding coverage for fertility treatments, surrogacy, gender affirmation 2. Employee placed on unpaid leave over mask refusal not entitled to reasonable notice: Alberta court 3. LifeWorks acquiring […]