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, […]
Canada’s economic boom in 2017 surprised economists and supported strong labour numbers. Yet, inflation also remained dormant, “which created this Goldilocks environment and, therefore, very strong financial market returns for the year,” says Luc de la Durantaye, the head of asset allocation and currency management at CIBC Asset Management Inc. That won’t be the case […]
For some investors, tradition isn’t cutting it anymore. Rock-bottom interest rates are squeezing fixed-income returns, and the need to diversify through sturdy, lower-risk assets is apparent. While low volatility in equity markets is comforting, how long will it last? “We don’t know when but we’re pretty sure the equity market will correct, maybe severely,” says […]
Bond yields are likely to remain low in light of the Bank of Canada’s wait-and-see-approach in its October interest rate decision, says CIBC Asset Management Inc.’s Patrick O’Toole. After two consecutive rate hikes, the Bank of Canada maintained the overnight rate at one per cent on Oct. 25, citing uncertainty around North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiations […]
The Canada Pension Plan fund returned 2.5 per cent after all costs during the second quarter of fiscal 2018. It ended the second quarter with net assets of $328.2 billion, up from $326.5 billion at the end of the first quarter. The $1.7 billion net increase in assets for the quarter consisted of $2.3 billion in net income […]
The OPSEU Pension Trust is divesting from all equity and fixed-income investments in public companies that derive a majority of their revenue from the production or manufacture of tobacco products beginning in 2018. “At OPTrust, we prefer to use corporate engagement — the promotion of better business practices — in our investment and ownership practices,” said Hugh O’Reilly, […]
Buoyed by rebounding Canadian equity returns, Canadian defined benefit pension plans posted returns of 0.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2017, marking the sixth straight quarter of growth, according to RBC Investor & Treasury Services. Canadian equities returned 3.8 per cent in the quarter, compared with minus 1.9 per cent in the second quarter […]
As pension plans move into better solvency positions this year, should they be lowering their risks by purchasing an annuity or looking at investment strategies to manage them in-house? From a private debt perspective, it’s possible for a plan to structure investments to mirror the de-risking benefits of buying an annuity from an insurance company, […]
While fads usually refer to fashion, food, music and even hairstyles, we don’t often talk about them in the context of investments. Right now, however, mortgage investments are one of the hottest asset classes. One of the first mutual funds in Canada, launched in 1974, was a fund that invested in insured housing mortgages. At the time, […]
The median solvency ratio of Canadian defined benefit pension plans declined to 96.5 per cent in August, amid rising global political instability and subdued equity market returns, according to Aon Hewitt. Its monthly survey, which tracks the performance of the defined benefit plans it administers and calculates their solvency ratios by measuring assets over liabilities, […]