Alcoa Corp. is de-risking roughly $315 million (US$235 million) in Canadian defined benefit pension obligations and assets with an annuity transfer. The group annuity contracts will be executed by Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc., which will assume payments for roughly 500 participants in September, according to a press release. Read: Alcoa entering $1BN […]
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has completed its acquisition of BCHR Holdings — also known as Buck — for US$660 million. Through the agreement, Gallagher will expand its retirement, benefits and human resources consulting services in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., according to a press release. Buck’s team of 2,300 employees will operate under the direction […]
Defined benefit pension plan sponsors in the U.S. are facing increasing costs when de-risking through annuity buyouts, according to a new report by consulting firm Milliman Inc. It found the estimated cost to transfer risk to an insurer increased in February to 99.7 per cent of a plan’s total liabilities, up from 99.3 per cent […]
After reaching a near 40-year high over the past year, headline inflation started to cool in the final months of 2022 following a series of aggressive interest rate hikes by the Bank of Canada. According to Statistics Canada, the consumer price index was up 6.3 per cent year over year in December, down from a […]
Defined contribution pension plan providers and advisors say plan sponsors should offer and support in-plan decumulation options, according to a new survey by PIMCO Canada Corp. The survey, which polled 12 DC plan providers and advisors, found more than half (53 per cent) of respondents said their plan sponsor clients haven’t considered implementing in-plan decumulation options, […]
RSA U.K. Pension Trustees, a subsidiary of Intact Financial Corp., is de-risking roughly £6.5 billion in U.K. defined benefit pension liabilities with an annuity buy-in. The deal, which will be completed with Pension Insurance Corp., will transfer all remaining economic and demographic risks associated with the Royal Insurance Group Pension Scheme and the Sal Pension Scheme, […]
The Canadian Institute of Actuaries is urging the federal government to reconsider its cessation of real return bond issuances, citing the potential financial impacts to defined benefit pension plans. “We request not only that the decision to cease issuing real return bonds be reconsidered, but also that the annual issuance of real return bonds be […]
In the Expert Commission on Pensions’ 2008 review of Ontario’s pension system, it recommended an agency or unit of the provincial government serve as a pension champion. According to the commission, the pension champion’s responsibilities would include working closely with stakeholders, promoting and facilitating innovation in the pension system and leading policy development efforts in […]
The Saskatchewan government is introducing amendments to its pension legislation that provide additional flexibility for plan sponsors and introduce new decumulation options for members of defined contribution plans. The bill, which passed first reading in provincial parliament last week, includes provisions for DC plan sponsors to offer advanced life deferred annuities and variable payment lifetime […]
A bill intended to provide defined benefit pension plan members with super-priority in the event of a plan sponsor’s insolvency passed in the House of Commons last week, furthering division among stakeholders on whether the legislation will cause more harm than good in the long term. The Association of Canadian Pension Management, the Canadian Chamber of […]