Interest rate levels are critically important to the financial health of defined benefit pension plans. Many DB plans are in their best financial positions in decades, largely due to the dramatic rise in interest rates over the past few years, but decreases in interest rates could pose a major risk for many plans. Changes in […]
Ontario-based defined benefit pension plans returned, on average, 0.7 per cent on their investments in the second quarter of 2023, according to a new report by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario. It found the positive return contributed to a small increase in the median projected solvency ratio, which increased to 116 per cent. […]
The Association of Canadian Pension Management is urging the Ontario government to ensure its proposed rules for multi-employer target-benefit pension plans don’t undermine existing incentives that enable employers to create and maintain workplace pension plans. In an open letter, the ACPM said it believes the provision for adverse deviation will overly restrict the ability of MEPP trustees to manage […]
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 […]
Amid the lingering coronavirus pandemic, vaccination policies and paid sick leave were top of mind among Benefits Canada’s readers in 2022. However, stories about new employee benefits and compensation planning, as well as pension and retirement matters, also caught readers’ eyes. Here are Benefits Canada’s 10 most popular stories of the year: 1. Feds consider definition of ‘fully […]
Changes to the calculation of commuted pension values in Canada are making it more challenging for defined benefit pension plan members to determine an optimal day to quit their job and receive the maximum payout, says one actuary. Peter Gorham, an actuary at JDM Actuarial Expert Services Inc., says while he used to point plan […]
In the fall of 2021, 39-year-old Krista Lehman quit her job as a program assistant at a Vancouver post-secondary institution to take a mental-health break and pursue other career options. When it came to her defined benefit pension plan, her employer’s human resources department provided her with a package that offered her the choice of […]
To celebrate Financial Literacy Month, a consortium of public sector defined benefit pension plan sponsors are releasing an informational video designed to educate their plan members about the risks associated with taking the commuted value out of their pension. The animated video was produced by the British Columbia’s college, municipal and public service, WorkSafeBC, the Colleges of […]
The Canadian Institute of Actuaries has selected FTSE Russell to represent the provincial and investment-grade corporate bond spread to be used for the CIA’s new market-based commuted-value calculation. The calculation is used to determine how much to pay a member of a registered defined benefit pension who leaves the plan and elects to receive their […]
With coronavirus causing market volatility and an increase in the size of solvency liabilities, pension plans are feeling the impact. One potential way for plan sponsors to ease the pain is by performing an early actuarial valuation to capture year-end 2019 numbers. Most Canadian jurisdictions require plans to file valuations every three years, however a […]