While an angle on environmentalism can be applied to virtually every asset class, when it comes to bonds, it’s not easy being green. More specifically, there’s no real standardization for what constitutes a green bond, says Colin Purdie, chief investment officer for credit at Aviva Investors. Super-national organizations, such as the World Bank, pushed forward the creation of […]
Twenty years ago, Jim Keohane was brought into the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan to launch its derivatives program. Since then, he’s climbed his way to the role of president and chief investment officer, grown his reputation as a trailblazer in liability-driven investing and navigated the pension fund through the financial crisis with positive returns. […]
Looking at South Korea today, it’s hard to believe the country was one of the world’s poorest just a few decades ago. But since the 1960s, its economy has been growing quickly. “In fact, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, it had one of the highest growth rates in the world, and at times in […]
Norway’s largest pension fund, Kommunal Landspensjonskasse, is divesting its holdings in five oil sands companies, four of which were Canadian. KLP’s stake in Canadian firms Cenovus Energy Inc., Husky Energy Inc., Imperial Oil Ltd., Suncor Energy Inc. and Russian company Tatneft PAO was a combined US$58 million, with US$33 million in equity and US$25 million in bonds. […]
The solvency positions of Canadian defined benefit pension plans declined slightly in the third quarter of 2019, according to new surveys from Aon and Mercer. Aon’s latest median solvency ratio survey reported a drop to 98.6 per cent from 99.3 per cent in the second quarter, while Mercer’s pension health index recorded 94 per cent […]
In the current market environment, there may be good reasons for investors to consider increasing their portfolio’s allocations to cash, according to a new report by Mercer. At the end of August 2019, cash yielded more than long bonds, says Dave Makarchuk, partner and Western Canada wealth business leader at Mercer, noting Canadian 91-day treasury […]
As crypto currency gains further traction in the global marketplace, do institutional investors have a fiduciary responsibility to examine its potential? Perhaps the answer lies in Bitcoin’s performance relative to other, more traditional asset classes, suggested Elisabeth Préfontaine, founder of Octonomics, at an event hosted by the Global Risk Institute in Toronto on Wednesday. “When […]
As the gap continues to widen between required infrastructure spending and actual dedicated funds, according to the G20, private infrastructure projects represent a strong opportunity for institutional investors. Speaking at TD Asset Management Inc.’s institutional investment symposium in Toronto on Wednesday, Matthew Press, the firm’s vice-president of infrastructure investments, said the funding gap in the G20 […]
The Principles for Responsible Investment has announced the winners of its inaugural awards. In the category of Active Ownership Project of the Year, Platform Living Wage Financials, a group of 11 financial institutions representing over 2.3 trillion euros in assets under management took the top spot, a case study posted on the PRI’s website said. […]
The market value of assets held by Canadian trusteed pension plans hit $1.97 trillion in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of five per cent from the last quarter of 2018, according to new data from Statistics Canada. Year over year, the market value of assets rose 3.6 per cent. The total includes assets […]