The Pension Investment Association of Canada is providing feedback on the Alberta government’s consultation draft of potential legislative and policy updates for private sector pension laws. While the PIAC doesn’t have specific views on how to calculate the provision for adverse deviation, it’s encouraged Alberta is considering a harmonized approach, wrote Sean Hewitt, chair of […]
The Association of Canadian Pension Management is calling on the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions to provide more detail on how pension plans can enhance their investment risk management strategies. In an open letter responding to a consultation by the OSFI, Ric Marrero, chief executive officer of the ACPM, said while the paper […]
The Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology pension plan increased its average 10-year net return to 11 per cent and outperformed its benchmark, according to the plan’s preliminary 2021 valuation results. The results also found the pension plan is 124 per cent funded on a going-concern basis, with $4.4 billion in funding reserves, as of […]
The government of Newfoundland and Labrador is amending funding rules for the province’s multi-employer pension plans. The amendments include a permanent exemption from solvency funding requirements for MEPPs, retroactive to Dec. 31, 2020, when the previous temporary exemption ended. In addition, going-concern unfunded liabilities must now be funded over 10 years instead of the previous […]
The Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Pension Plan is reporting an 11.1 per cent return for 2020, exceeding its policy benchmark by 0.4 per cent. The return brings the annualized 10-year net return to 9.9 per cent, providing $1.7 billion in cumulative added value compared to the benchmark, while funding reserves increased to $3.3 […]
The funding status and confidence of Canadian defined benefit pension plans declined in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic and a low interest-rate environment, according to a new survey from RBC Investor & Treasury Services. It found among 122 respondents, 50 per cent reported their plans were fully funded on a going-concern basis, down significantly from […]
Canada’s largest pension plans are reporting mixed financial results from a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic. The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec reported a 7.7 per cent return on its depositors’ funds in 2020, representing $24.8 billion in investment results. As at Dec. 31, 2020, the Caisse’s net assets totalled $365.5 billion, up […]
The Canadian Investment Review’s Risk Management Award will go to a pension plan that has successfully implemented a robust approach to its risk management function. This can include implementing de-risking or re-risking or it can showcase day-to-day processes in place for risk management in pension plan investments. Highlights about the three finalists are available below: […]
Despite the low interest rate environment, it still makes sense for defined benefit pension plan sponsors to adopt a liability-driven investment strategy, said Serge Lapierre, global head of LDI at Manulife Investment Management, during a webinar sponsored by the firm on Monday. LDI investing is a risk management framework, he noted. “It’s not an asset […]
With asset deterioration due to drops in equity markets and a decrease in long-term government bond yields causing an increase in solvency liabilities, pension funds are in a tough position. A Canadian defined benefit solvency funding calculation assumes some plan members will elect to take a commuted-value lump sum, while other members will elect to […]