The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is entering a private agreement to give AtkinsRéalis Group Inc. the option to repurchase the seven million common shares held by the investment organization. The shares held by the Caisse will be repurchased at a price of $90.87 per share, for a total consideration of roughly $636 […]
An article on Quebec’s incoming framework for variable payment life annuities was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com this past week. Here are the top five human resources, benefits, pension and investment stories of the last week: 1. Quebec introducing VPLA regulatory framework 2. BMO corporate employees returning to office four days per week this fall […]
The funded status of a typical Canadian pension plan increased on both a solvency and accounting basis during the month of May, according to a new report by Telus Health. The solvency index jumped to 101.1 per cent compared to 98.2 per cent at the end of April, while the accounting index increased from 99.5 […]
A climate advocacy group says oil and gas representation on the boards of Canada’s big public pensions raise concerns about conflicts of interest. In a new report, Shift Action for Pension Wealth & Planet Health said as of June 1, the boards of five of Canada’s largest public sector funds had members who are also […]
An article on Canadian institutional investors’ potential overexposure to alternative assets was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com this past week. Here are the top five human resources, benefits, pension and investment stories of the last week: 1. Canadian pension funds could be overexposed in alternative assets: expert 2. Employees on LTD more likely to claim […]
Three years ago, I wrote an editorial for our inaugural DEI Issue heralding the overdue and rising attention that was being bestowed on diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace — but in such a short period of time, the tide is already turning. The rhetoric demonizing DEI began to gain momentum after a ruling […]
It’s a generally recognized fact that institutional investors in the Nordic region pioneered the approach to sustainable investing, including incorporating environmental, social and governance factors. Sweden’s large public pension funds — AP1, AP2, AP3, AP4, AP6 and AP7 — are regulated by a law introduced in the early 2000s stipulating that sustainability needs to be […]
The Canadian pension risk transfer market reached record-breaking demand in 2024 with $11 billion in deals at the end of the year, eclipsing the $7.8 billion combined total of annuities transactions in 2023 and 2022. Indeed, the fourth quarter of 2024 alone saw $5.2 billion of overall transactions, split between $1.5 billion in buy-ins and […]
Last year, the Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System embarked on a journey to redefine its risk management strategy, with the process pushing the organization to separate its views on risk into three categories. After becoming the OMERS’ chief risk officer in June 2023, Deb Barnes asked the organization’s board for a mandate to refresh the […]
U.S. public pension plan sponsors have significantly diversified their portfolios since 2001, allocating, on average, 20 per cent of assets from public equities and fixed income to private equity, real estate, hedge funds and other alternative investments, according to a new report by Aon and the National Institute on Retirement Security. It found this shift […]