Canada’s defined benefit pension plans posted a median return of 1.6 per cent in 2019’s third quarter, according to Northern Trust Canada’s pension universe. “Despite a backdrop of persistent volatility, fear and uncertainty, Canadian pension plans displayed resilience in the third quarter,” said Arti Sharma, president and chief executive officer of Northern Trust Canada, in a press […]
Diversified pooled fund managers posted a median 1.5 per cent return before fees for the third quarter of 2019, according to Morneau Shepell Ltd.’s latest pension universe. The 1.5 per cent return represented a 0.3 per cent underperformance of its benchmark portfolio, which uses a 55 per cent equities and 45 per cent fixed income split. The […]
Passive investing is immensely popular, with assets in passive funds having cleared US$13 trillion, globally. But can active investors take advantage of the new landscape this is creating? Regardless of where an investor stands on the active versus passive debate, this new reality has shifted the overall market environment, revealing certain opportunities, said Ivan Cajic, […]
For intergenerational investors, such as foreign pension plans ramping up their exposure to alternative assets and leveraging patient capital, it’s worth paying attention to Indonesia’s potential. “If you follow the logic that the country’s going to be the fourth or fifth largest economy in the world . . . then, to me, it’s too big […]
Twenty years ago, Jim Keohane was brought into the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan to launch its derivatives program. Since then, he’s climbed his way to the role of president and chief investment officer, grown his reputation as a trailblazer in liability-driven investing and navigated the pension fund through the financial crisis with positive returns. […]
Global growth slowed to three per cent on an annual basis in the middle of 2019 and is expected to remain below three per cent for the next 18 months, according to a Q4 report by Aviva Investors. “That would represent the weakest sustained period for over a decade,” the report said. “We expect all […]
Canada’s fledgling cannabis companies should implement strong governance protocols and show they’re attempting to address material environmental and social risks to grow their base of institutional investors. Speaking on Friday at a panel discussion on cannabis companies and governance practices nearly a year after legalization, Michelle de Cordova, a principal at ESG Global Advisors Inc., […]
The massive uptick in private equity investing is changing how companies raise capital. The private equity industry has grown by 500 per cent since 2000, according to research by Willis Towers Watson’s Thinking Ahead Institute. It found the increased interest from institutional investors is leading growing companies to seek fresh capital from the private markets rather […]
Looking at South Korea today, it’s hard to believe the country was one of the world’s poorest just a few decades ago. But since the 1960s, its economy has been growing quickly. “In fact, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, it had one of the highest growth rates in the world, and at times in […]
Pension funds are diversifying into alternatives in an increasingly challenging environment for returns. But many of the traditional characteristics institutional investors seek to achieve by investing in alternatives may not actually be present depending on the particular asset class, said Michael Sager, vice-president and client portfolio manager in multi-asset and currency management at CIBC Asset […]