The United Nations’ Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance is marking five years of encouraging institutional investors to implement science-based targets towards curbing greenhouse gas emissions in their portfolios. The network launched with just 12 investment organizations and now counts 88 members across 19 countries. Its members’ collective assets under management have nearly quadrupled since 2019, from […]
The median solvency ratio of Canadian defined benefit pension plans increased to 122 per cent in the third quarter of 2024, up slightly from 121 per cent in the previous quarter, according to a new report by Mercer. The report, which tracked 450 DB pension plans, attributed this increase to declines in global interest rates, […]
The Alberta Investment Management Corp. is appointing two of its investment leaders to new executive roles, effective immediately, as Marlene Puffer steps away from her role as the organization’s chief investment officer. Justin Lord has been named senior executive managing director and global head of public markets, overseeing public equities and fixed income. He has […]
The total portfolio approach is gaining interest as a new investing strategy for pension funds and other asset owners, but its novel status may be deceiving. Indeed, the concept behind this approach has been at the core foundation of modern portfolio theory since the days when Nobel Prize winner Harry Markowitz showed that maximizing the […]
In 2023, the world’s 300 largest pension funds’ assets under management increased by 10 per cent to US$22.6 trillion, compared to $20.6 trillion at the end of 2022, according to a new report by WTW’s Thinking Ahead Institute. It found the top 20 largest global pension funds’ AUM increased by 12 per cent during the […]
An acceleration of significant weather events are impacting the risk premium earned from insurance-linked securities, providing a significant inflation hedge for institutional investors, says Bernard Van der Stichele, senior portfolio manager of insurance-linked securities at the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan. “ILS investments earn a risk premium that is directly proportional to the level of risk […]
An altering macroeconomic environment means that cost management requires continual attention by pension plans and other institutional investors. Today, as inflation and higher-for-longer rates exert upward pressure on institutional investors’ costs in a variety of areas, from technology to team member salaries, it’s time once again to re-evaluate the fees being paid to external asset […]
The funded position of a typical Canadian defined benefit pension plan rose on both a solvency and accounting basis in July, according to Telus Health’s latest pension index. It found the solvency of the average DB plan rose to 107.8 per cent, up from 107.6 per cent in June, while the accounting index increased from […]
The end of the federal government’s real return bond program will deprive institutional investors and pension plan members of a valuable investment tool that can help protect against inflation, according to a new report by the C.D. Howe Institute. It found a majority of Canada’s largest institutional investors are interested in investing in real return bonds and […]
The Alberta Investment Management Corp. is reporting a net return of 5.4 per cent for the first half of 2024. During the six-month period ending June 30, 2024, the AIMCo’s total assets under management were $168.9 billion. The investment organization’s balanced fund — a composite of client accounts that invest in money market and fixed income, […]