Due to market volatility caused by the coronavirus, pension plans may be finding themselves offside their investment policies as their assets have drifted. Typically, pension funds have a strategic asset allocation policy, which specifies bands within each asset class that investments can move between, says Arun Muralidhar, an adjunct professor of finance at George Washington […]
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is introducing some measures to help federally regulated private defined benefit pension plans get through the difficult times caused by the coronavirus. Particularly, the regulator is temporarily freezing portability transfers and annuity purchases. In both cases, plan sponsors can write to the OSFI to for consent to […]
With many people around the world facing layoffs due to business shutdowns caused by the coronavirus, financial stress is pervasive. In Australia, the government is allowing individuals affected by coronavirus to access up to $10,000 of their superannuation savings tax-free in both 2019-20 and 2020-21, subject to restrictions, including that they must be unemployed or […]
With asset deterioration due to drops in equity markets and a decrease in long-term government bond yields causing an increase in solvency liabilities, pension funds are in a tough position. A Canadian defined benefit solvency funding calculation assumes some plan members will elect to take a commuted-value lump sum, while other members will elect to […]
Although the markets are changing quickly due to the impacts of coronavirus, the OPSEU Pension Trust is a long-term investor and its overall investment strategy hasn’t changed, says James Davis, the fund’s chief investment officer. The plan’s portfolio was constructed to be resilient and withstand events similar to what’s happening in today’s markets, he says, […]
In this time of global pandemic, the coronavirus is shaking up everything, with high market volatility and changing work arrangements. Everyone is worried — not only for their immediate futures, but also for the long term. “It’s pretty hard to watch the market go through the volatility that we’ve seen over the last couple of […]
Across the country, public pension plans are releasing statements to assure members that their defined benefit pensions are secure and that they’re taking measures to protect the health and safety of their own staff. The Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology pension plan said it regularly tests operations and will continue to make pension payments. […]
The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan’s board of trustees has named Jeff Wendling the new president and chief executive officer, effective April 1, 2020. Since joining the plan in 1998 as a senior portfolio manager on the public equities team, Wendling has had a long career at the plan. He led the public equities team […]
The OPSEU Pension Trust saw a strong 2019, ending the year with an 11.2 per cent net investment return and maintaining its fully funded status. The plan’s total assets grew from almost $20 billion of net assets in 2018 to almost $22 billion in 2019, according to its 2019 funded status report. In other highlights from […]
While the OPSEU Pension Trust has been focused on responsible investing for some time, it’s bringing its sustainability activities to the next level with the introduction of a sustainable investing and innovation team. Launched in late 2019, the team’s responsibilities will include continuing to strengthen the organization’s traditional responsible investing activities. It will also have […]