Canadian defined benefit pension plans experienced an upsurge in the second quarter of 2020, posting a median return of 9.6 per cent, according to RBC Investor and Treasury Services’ universe of DB pension plans. After the first quarter’s median return of negative 7.1 per cent, the rally marked the highest single quarter return in the […]
Canadian defined benefit plan sponsors are holding an almost equal amount of fixed income and equity in their portfolios, according to the Pension Investment Association of Canada’s 2019 asset mix report. The report found the PIAC’s membership reported a total of more than $2.2 trillion under management last year, up from just under $2.1 trillion in 2018. As well, […]
Diversified pooled fund managers had a positive second quarter of 2020, posting a median return of 11 per cent before management fees, according to the Morneau Shepell universe of pension manager’s pooled funds. Despite the strong results, the return was 1.2 per cent lower than the benchmark portfolio used by many pension plans. Further, the […]
Canadian defined benefit pension plans recovered some of their losses from the start of 2020 in the second quarter off the back of strong public equity gains, according to the Northern Trust Canada universe. With stimulus spending to tackle the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic taking effect in many countries, stock markets rebounded with double-digit […]
In the current low-yield environment, many pension funds are looking for alternatives to fixed income to earn the returns required to pay pension obligations. The answer for some may be private credit. “We like private credit because we see a lot of excess yield compared to the same risk and return that you can achieve […]
The increase in U.S. corporate debt issued in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak could be a warning signal to credit investors, according to a recent blog post by MSCI’s Research’s managing director, Andy Sparks, and executive director, Gergely Szalka. As many companies headed into the current crisis with an already heavy debt burden, new […]
In the second quarter of 2020, the funded positions of defined benefit plans recovered almost half of the losses incurred during the coronavirus crash of the first quarter, according to Mercer’s pension health index. The index, which represents the solvency ratio of a hypothetical DB pension plan, increased to 101 per cent at the end […]
The coronavirus pandemic will leave some long-term economic damage that will only become clearer as the country moves further along a “prolonged and bumpy” course to recovery, Canada’s top central banker says. In his first speech as governor, Tiff Macklem said the central bank expects to see growth in the third quarter of this year […]
Investors were already feeling the pressures of historically low interest rates. Then came the coronavirus pandemic. The Bank of Canada cut its overnight interest rate at the end of March to an all-time low of 0.25 per cent and announced a plan to spend $5 billion per week on Government of Canada bonds. This came […]
The market value of assets in Canadian employer-sponsored pension plans rose to $2.09 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2019, up 2.3 per cent from the previous quarter, according to new data from Statistics Canada. All investment categories saw growth, led by real estate (4.9 per cent) and public equities (4.5 per cent), with mortgages […]