Whether operating in Canada or the United States, defined contribution plan sponsors are facing the same challenges around demographics, plan design and their employees’ retirement readiness. On the demographics front, more baby boomers are retiring and taking their pension balances with them. As DC plans lose members, plan sponsors may see a rise in costs […]
Where are the current financial bubbles and how can investors tell which one is at risk of bursting? “When it comes to the domain of financial bubbles, I believe each and every lens we look through is bias and incomplete,” says Vikram Mansharamani, author of Boombustology: Spotting Financial Bubbles Before They Burst. “And therefore, looking […]
The University of Victoria has two pension plans and although each plan has taken a distinct approach to managing its assets, conducting prudent analysis, considering governance and administration and keeping liabilities top of mind have been key for both plans. The university has a faculty and professional staff pension plan, which is a hybrid defined […]
In a world where opportunities in emerging markets are limited, pension plans can look to access underlying emerging economies rather than the publicly traded markets themselves, said Mikhail Simutin, associate professor of finance at the Rotman School of Management and associate director of research at the International Centre for Pension Management. Emerging markets hold promise […]
Private capital funds are increasingly turning to subscription credit facilities, which can have their advantages but also come along with risks, according to new research by Preqin Ltd. Subscription credit facilities provide short-term loans to cover transactional costs for private capital funds, so they don’t have to make capital calls to investors. While their use […]
While Canada and the U.S. used to be best friends, that friendship is now on rocky ground, said Bruce Heyman, former U.S. ambassador to Canada who served under former president Barack Obama. “When I left, I felt our relationship was in good hands, and you can imagine how jarring it has been for me over […]
Although culture is a differentiator in determining successful investment management firms of the future, only a few asset managers measure and actively manage their culture, according to the Thinking Ahead Institute. In a newly-released report, The Asset Manager of Tomorrow, the institute noted six attributes that are important for asset manager success: strong culture, technology […]
There are different ways that pension funds can think about how farmland fits within their portfolios, says Bernice Miedzinski, president of StarBridge Capital Ltd. For instance, many large plans would consider it as part of a natural resources allocation and other plans might consider it as part of their real asset allocation, she says. Farmland can […]
Canadian investors are keen to increase their allocations to alternatives over the next 12 months, according to a new survey by CIBC Mellon. Specifically, 58 per cent of Canadian institutional investors surveyed said they expect to increase allocations to this asset class and none said they expect to reduce allocations. This contrasts global findings in […]
While factor investing isn’t new, the way investors are accessing and using factors is changing, says Mark Carver, global head of factor index products at MSCI Inc. “The most common [mis]perception is that factors are new,” he says. “Factors are not new. Some of the strategies that today we bucket as factors have in fact […]