An article on how incoming health-care legislation could impact plan sponsors’ virtual care offerings was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com this past week. Here are the top five human resources, benefits, pension and investment stories of the last week: 1. How national health-care legislation could impact benefits plan sponsors’ virtual care offerings 2. Labatt attracting, […]
More than half of U.S. pension plan sponsors say economic conditions like interest rate and market volatility (58 per cent) as well as demographic changes (57 per cent) are the market forces most likely to influence the evolution of employer-sponsored retirement plans, according to a new survey by MetLife Inc. The survey, which polled more […]
The union representing roughly 500 employees at General Dynamics Land Systems Canada in London, Ont. has ratified a new three-year contract that includes pension and benefits gains. The agreement provides increased employer contributions to the defined benefit pension plan, including an additional $1 for production employees and an additional $1.20 for skilled trades workers in […]
The use of automatic features in U.S. defined contribution pension plans is supporting employee financial well-being and retirement readiness, according to a new report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. It found when a typical DC plan sponsor adopted auto-enrolment with a six per cent default contribution, the retirement savings shortfall among plan members decreased […]
The British Columbia Financial Services Authority is releasing a stand-alone information security guideline for pension plan administrators based in the province. The guideline, which will come into effect on July 1, 2025, aims to help mitigate information security risks and ensure timely reporting of material security incidents, according to a press release. Until then, all […]
Benefits Canada celebrated the Defined Contribution Plan Summit’s 25th anniversary by looking at how the world has changed over the last quarter century, the subsequent impact on the pension sector and what’s next for DC pensions. On Feb. 26-28 in Montreal, the 2025 DC Plan Summit highlighted the lessons of the last several decades, putting […]
Over the past 25 years, the pension industry has seen many significant shifts, from defined benefit to defined contribution, from accumulation to decumulation and from education and guidance to financial planning, said Chris Walker, regional vice-president of business development and investment strategy at Desjardins Insurance, during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2025 DC Plan Summit. […]
With climate change affecting the planet and artificial intelligence disrupting the concept of work, a profound generational shift is underway in how young people are thinking about their futures. “When previous generations worried about retirement, they mainly focused on financial risk, market turndown, inflation and health-care costs,” said Kelly Peters (pictured left), behavioural economics leader […]
As defined contribution plans mature, Canada is seeing the first wave of retirees that only have DC plans and plan sponsors are facing the challenges of this decumulation phase. Speaking during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2025 DC Plan Summit, Yashar Zarrabian, regional vice-president for Quebec at Sun Life Financial Inc., outlined three pillars to […]
While good governance practices must be at the core of any pension plan, intricate frameworks are designed to be proportional to the size of the sponsoring organization, according to Leah Fichter, vice-chair at the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities and deputy superintendent of pensions and executive director of the pensions division at the Financial […]