Before physical distancing, pension plan sponsors typically held in-person meetings and site visits when allocating to new investment managers. “I like to look people in the eye when they’re telling me what they’re going to do,” says Blair Richards, chief executive officer of the Halifax Port ILA/HEA Pension Plan. “It’s very old school and it’s […]
The Saskatchewan Pension Plan is improving investment choice for members in the accumulation phase and introducing new options to help them through decumulation as well. Leading up to retirement, SPP members are defaulted into a balanced fund, which has been in place since the plan started in 1986. In 2010, it introduced a short-term fund, […]
The volatility caused by the coronavirus pandemic made the first quarter of 2020 rough for many Canadian defined benefit pension plans. In early June, the Local Authorities Pension Plan Corp., which is mandated to invest with the Alberta Investment Management Corp., said it began the year with $50.6 billion in assets under management and ended the […]
The extent of fiscal and monetary intervention in the economy in response to the coronavirus crisis is likely to lead to deficits unlike anything seen before and result in asset prices faring better over the near term than the overall economy, said Bert Clark, president and chief executive officer of the Investment Management Corp. of Ontario, […]
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is relaxing its freeze on portability transfers to automatically permit pension plan members who are eligible for early retirement to transfer their commuted values to locked-in savings vehicles, subject to certain conditions. At the end of March, the OSFI introduced a temporary freeze on portability transfers, meaning […]
The Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology pension plan saw a strong 2019, delivering a 16 per cent return, net of investment management fees, while growing its assets under management to $13.5 billion. “On an absolute basis, all asset classes contributed positively to returns in 2019, with global developed equity, long bonds and real assets […]
Anxiety is running high for many Canadians who are feeling the immediate financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic due to job losses, reduced work hours and significant declines in investment portfolios. But some may also feel unease if they can’t access money from specific funds within their defined contribution pension plan. “Right now, we’re aware […]
With coronavirus causing market volatility and an increase in the size of solvency liabilities, defined benefit pension plans are feeling the impact. One potential way for plan sponsors to ease the pain is by performing an early actuarial valuation to capture year-end 2019 numbers. While most Canadian jurisdictions require plans to file valuations every three years, […]
The Association of Canadian Pension Management and the Pension Investment Association of Canada have sent the federal government their wish lists for actions to help federally regulated pension plans deal with the fallout of the coronavirus, with a focus on measures to help with cash flow, liquidity and a call for broader solvency reform. As […]
With the coronavirus pandemic causing pain for employers and employees across the country, many organizations want to help out those in need. But can pension funds go as far as making financial donations to charities? Last week, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec announced it’s donating $300,000 to five organizations for coronavirus relief, […]