With a mature system of defined contribution pension plans, Australia offers some lessons for how Canada’s industry may evolve. At Benefits Canada’s upcoming Benefits and Pension Summit, Kim Hughes, head of product and services at QSuper, one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds, will share the plan’s experience in assisting members with financial well-being and retirement readiness. A […]
While retirement may not yet be at the top of millennials’ priority lists, it won’t be long before they arrive on the pension scene. How can the industry prepare for their arrival? And what might the rejuvenation look like? Let’s start by examining the pension world as we know it today. On the workplace front, […]
Global defined contribution plan assets are growing faster than defined benefit pension assets, according to a new report by the Thinking Ahead Institute and Willis Towers Watson. Over the past 20 years in the seven largest pension markets (Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States), defined contribution plan assets grew at a rate of […]
The Saskatchewan Pension Plan is introducing a significant increase to the annual contribution limit available to participants. Effective immediately, the annual limit will rise to $6,000, up from the current $2,500. The regulatory changes also provide for indexing the limit, which is subject to participants’ registered retirement savings plan contribution room, each year as of 2019. “Providing […]
Aon Hewitt has developed a series of 10 questions for pension trustees to use to make sure they’re getting the most out of their relationships with advisors. Applicable to both defined benefit and defined contribution plans, the questions are part of an effort to create tools trustees can use to perform their responsibilities with greater confidence, […]
When it comes to issues such as medical marijuana, it’s important to draft tightly worded benefits plans, according to a Toronto lawyer. Ross Gascho, a partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, was one of the speakers at the firm’s pension, benefits and litigation seminar in Toronto on Thursday. Gascho looked at two case studies involving coverage of medical […]
While 2017 was a relatively uneventful year in terms of legislative changes affecting pension plans, 2018 promises to be more significant, at least for many defined benefit plan sponsors in Ontario. The changes to the Ontario Pension Benefits Act scheduled to come into force during the coming year include: Funding and governance policies: Plan administrators will need to establish […]
Alcoa Corp. is freezing its defined benefit pension plan for Canadian and U.S. salaried employees. Effective Jan. 1, 2021, the change affects approximately 800 workers who will move into defined contribution plans. The defined benefit plan will close on Dec. 31, 2020, with benefits earned up to that point protected, according to the bauxite and aluminum producer’s fourth […]
A proposed guideline setting out standards for the disclosure of intermediary compensation in group benefits and retirement services could have a big effect on the market. Dave Patriarche, president of Mainstay Insurance Brokerage Inc. and founder of Canadian Group Insurance Brokers Inc., is supportive of compensation disclosure and says the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association’s new guideline makes […]
Whether plan sponsors expect a bear or a bull market in 2018, if they’re in a position to de-risk their pension plan, they should do it now, according to two investment consultants who spoke at an event in Toronto on Thursday. “From our perspective, if you look at the world over the last six years, […]