Strong public market performance helped Canadian defined benefit pension plans reverse their first-quarter losses, according to a new report by BNY Mellon Asset Management Canada. The median second quarter return for the 84 Canadian corporate, public and university pension plans in BNY Mellon’s Canadian master trust universe was 9.23 per cent, up from the first quarter median […]
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund are each taking on a 50 per cent stake in New Zealand-based pathology business Asia Pacific Healthcare Group. Healthscope, a national private health-care provider in Australia, is selling the business in a deal valued at more than NZ$550 million, subject to customary approvals. Healthscope’s sale of the […]
Nova Scotia Pension Services Corp. finished 2019 with almost $12 billion in assets under management and reported sharply diverging year-end results for the two pension plans it manages. The Nova Scotia Teachers’ Pension Plan, which ended its fiscal year on Dec. 31, 2019, had a 12.36 per cent net return, as reported in late April. The TPP […]
The current market environment has the potential for long-term effects on the defined benefit pension investment industry, according to a new report by Cerulli Associates. Broadly, investment consultants said they’ve been preparing their DB pension plan sponsor clients for a potential downturn for up to two years, noted the report. And, as plans have begun […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is appointing Marc-André Blanchard as executive vice-president and head of CDPQ Global, effective Sept. 8, 2020. In the new role, Blanchard will have direct responsibility for the Caisse’s three main regional hubs outside of Canada: the United States/Latin America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. He will lead activities in […]
iA Financial Group is appointing Éric Jobin as executive vice-president of group benefits and retirement solutions. Jobin had been in the role, on an interim basis, since March 2020. He joined the insurer in 1999 in corporate actuarial services. Since then, he’s taken on many roles including vice-president of corporate actuarial services in 2015, vice-president […]
The British Columbia Investment Management Corp. rounded out its fiscal year with a three per cent return, slightly underperforming its 3.3 per cent benchmark. In dollar terms, the BCI added $17.8 billion as of March 31, 2020, rounding to a total $171.3 billion in assets under management. The three per cent return represented something of […]
Private equity fundraising slowed in the second quarter of 2020, reaching only US$116 billion, its lowest quarterly point since the first quarter of 2018, according to Preqin’s quarterly private equity report. Further, private equity funds are taking longer to reach targets than last year. Only 39 per cent of funds that closed in the first […]
While factor behaviour tends to be consistent in market crashes and corrections, individual factor performance varies over the medium term. As such, institutional investors should maintain diversified exposure across key equity factors including value, quality, momentum, size and low volatility, according to a new paper by Mercer. The paper explored the past three financial crises: […]
A retiree faces a 50 per cent probability of receiving more income by delaying Canada Pension Plan payments, according to a new report by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries. The report, authored by Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald, director of financial security research at Ryerson University’s National Institute on Ageing, investigated the financial […]