“Let me start by pointing out the obvious: the last few years have been exhausting,” said Mina Krishnan, multi-asset portfolio manager at Schroders, during a session on regime shifts at the Canadian Investment Review’s 2023 Global Investment Conference. “We’ve had the [coronavirus] pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and Brexit.” As a result […]
At the best of times, selecting an optimal asset mix for a defined benefit pension plan is challenging. The times of today are downright turbulent. Last year, inflation reached 8.1 per cent in Canada as a result of a prolonged period of government stimulus spending to manage the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. In response […]
The median solvency ratio of Canadian defined benefit pension plans rose during the first quarter of 2023, from 113 per cent at the beginning of the year to 116 per cent at the end of March, according to Mercer’s latest pension health pulse. The measure, which tracks the median solvency ratio of the DB plans […]
The venture capital arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan anticipates that a slowing global economy, interest rate hikes and limited funding opportunities will drive private equity valuations down by as much as 10 per cent in 2023, according to a new report. “So far, 2023 looks set to be another challenging year: the global […]
What’s the right definition of risk in financial markets? Finding the answer to this question has become even more important because the number of retail traders is at a record high. Over the past 10 years, between 10 per cent and 15 per cent of all U.S. trades have come from retail accounts. So far […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec generated average returns of negative 5.6 per cent in 2022. “The year 2022 provided an environment filled with several challenges, with spiking inflation, historic interest rate hikes by central banks and rising geopolitical tensions,” said Charles Emond, the Caisse’s president and chief executive officer, during a press briefing […]
Ontario’s defined benefit pension funds returned an average 2.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022 while plan liabilities continued to benefit from a rising interest rate environment, according to the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario’s latest solvency report. It also found the majority of plans remained fully funded on a solvency basis […]
The aggregate funded ratio for Canadian defined benefit pension plans increased from 96.9 per cent to 100.8 per cent during 2022, according to Aon’s latest pension risk tracker. The tracker, which calculates the aggregate funded position on an accounting basis for companies in the S&P/TSX composite index with DB plans, also found pension assets lost […]
The average solvency ratio of Canadian defined benefit pension plans grew by 10 per cent in 2022, according to a new report by Mercer Canada. The report, which looked at the overall 2022 performance of more than 500 Canadian DB plans in the consultancy’s pension database, found the median solvency ratio reached 113 per cent […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s assets returned 0.2 per cent during the second quarter of fiscal 2023, according to its latest quarterly report. By Sept. 30, 2022, the investment organization’s net assets reached $529 billion, up from $523 billion at the end of June. About $5 billion was generated by net transfers, while the […]