In 2016, the Toronto Transit Commission sued its insurer for allegedly not having appropriate benefits fraud controls in place to detect unusual trends or patterns. The lawsuit was settled three years later. In the meantime, 10 people, including nine TTC employees, were convicted in relation to the scheme and more than 250 TTC staff resigned […]
Canadian benefits plan sponsors are increasingly seeking to balance providing competitive benefits against plan sustainability issues, said expert panellists during the launch event for the 2024 Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey last week. Andrea Belvedere (pictured right), assistant vice-president of health benefits and solutions at Sun Life, said plan sponsors are starting to ask more questions […]
Putting responsible artificial intelligence principles in place is essential to enhancing risk-adjusted returns and positioning businesses for success, according to a new report by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the World Economic Forum. It found the use of AI can preserve and even create value for investors. However, institutional investors must find a balance between […]
In the fight against cybercriminals, institutional investors and other financial organizations are managing cybersecurity just as seriously as any other type of business risk, with standards that can accommodate the integration of new practices and assessment tools. “We’re finding that, pension plans included, enterprises more broadly are taking [cybersecurity] more seriously and putting in place […]
The era of predictable monetary policy and global co-operation is over. In this new epoch, defined by sweeping government intervention, geopolitical realignment and environmental catastrophe, new ideas must be embraced. At the 2023 Investment Innovation Conference at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego, Calif. on Nov. 15-17, leading academics and industry figures provided expert summaries […]
The evolution of cloud computing, artificial intelligence and data availability will disrupt and upend the entire asset management industry, said Neil Constable, head of quantitative research and investments at Fidelity Investments, during the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2023 Investment Innovation Conference in November. “Yesterday’s alpha is today’s beta [and] today’s alpha is tomorrow’s beta,” he said, noting asset […]
Being systematic doesn’t mean overlooking the fundamental risks in the corporate credit asset class, said Scott Richardson, senior vice-president and director of systematic credit at Acadian Asset Management, during the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2023 Investment Innovation Conference in November. “What’s the risk? It’s a company — they make stuff [and] chose to fund themselves in a […]
A traditional method used to calculate expected returns and risk by institutional investors is limited by the scarce amount of available carbon emissions data, according to a report from BNP Paribas. The report, which used the MSCI world index and the MSCI world Paris-aligned benchmark index as investment universe benchmarks, found that when assessing the […]
Data management and transference is a key area of risk for pension plan sponsors as the vulnerability of engaging with third parties creates opportunities for cybercriminals, says Jillian Kennedy, a partner at Mercer. According to an online brief published last year by Ernst & Young, third-party service providers hired by public pension plan sponsors tend to […]
While pension plan sponsors are still in the early days of exploring how artificial intelligence solutions could help automate maintenance tasks, they’re exploring the various functionalities they can automate from a member service standpoint, says Akio Tagawa, president and chief executive officer at consultancy Linea Solutions. He’s seen increased interest from plan sponsors in evaluating how […]