The market value of Canadian employer-sponsored pension funds grew by 3% to $1.5 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2014, marking a sixth consecutive quarterly increase, says Statistics Canada.
On an annual basis, pension fund assets increased by 12.3% in value in 2014, compared with gains of 11.9% in 2013 and 9.7% in 2012.
Pension fund assets held in stocks increased 3% in the fourth quarter. The value of mortgages grew 5.4%, while investments in bonds rose 2.8%.
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The value of foreign investments in Canadian pension funds rose by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, accounting for about one-third of total pension fund investments.
Pension fund revenue rose by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. Pension fund managers reported a 13.2% year-end increase in employer and employee contributions, a 43.9% gain in investment income, and a 20.4% advance in profits on sale of securities.
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Expenditures declined by 4.7% in the fourth quarter as a result of reduced losses from the sale of securities. With the increase in revenue, net income grew 69.1% to $23.5 billion.
More than 6.2 million Canadian workers are members of employer-sponsored pension plans. Of this group, 5.2 million (83.6%) workers belong to pension plans with assets managed by trusteed funds. The remaining members have assets managed by insurance company contracts.
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