The Pension Investment Association of Canada took issue with some of the recommendations drafted by Ontario’s capital markets modernization task force, specifically those related to proxy advisory firms. The task force published a series of proposals for consultation earlier this year, inviting feedback from the public. In a recent response letter to Walied Soliman, the […]
The median projected solvency for Ontario’s defined benefit pension plans increased to 90 per cent at the end of 2020’s second quarter, up from 85 per cent in the first quarter, as measured by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario. The regulator estimated about three-quarters of plans had double-digit investment returns for the quarter, […]
The Shareholder Association for Research and Education and Groupe Investissement Responsable Inc. are creating a joint venture to provide proxy voting services to institutional investors across Canada. The partnership establishes a new corporation called GIR that will purchase the proxy voting businesses of both organizations, as well as the operations of the previous Groupe Investissement […]
The world’s 300 largest pension funds saw their assets under management increase in value by eight per cent in 2019, to a total value of US$19.5 trillion, according to new research by Willis Towers Watson’s Thinking Ahead Institute. This is compared to a 0.4 per cent decline in the value of assets in 2018. “Overall, […]
Real estate, a long-time stable, returns-generating asset class for pension plans, may no longer be as solid due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. “A pretty traditional asset class for pension plans may have been in office and retail, but one of the changes that’s happened is [the move to] remote working,” said Barbara Zvan, […]
The coronavirus pandemic has hit the U.S. dollar hard, disrupting a dynamic that Canadian pension funds have taken advantage of for years. Unhedged exposure to the U.S. dollar has been a boon for Canadian pensions as they’ve reaped the extra returns from the favourable conversion of asset income back into Canadian currency. But the outlook for the […]
Acknowledging that the multi-faceted causes and consequences of climate change call for different methods, Quebec-based pension fund Bâtirente is publishing a new climate commitment. “Effectively supporting the transition to an economy that is aligned with the objectives of the Paris [Agreement] requires a multi-dimensional approach,” said Daniel Simard, the pension fund’s chief executive officer, in […]
Historically, many institutional investors have been wary of emerging markets despite their growing role in the global economy, but the tide may be shifting, according to new research by Vontobel Asset Management. “In many cases, [institutional investors and discretionary wealth managers’] allocations to emerging market assets have stalled in single figures as a percentage of […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is appointing Edwin Cass as its first-ever chief investment officer. In the new role, he’ll be responsible for total fund management, including capital allocation between investment programs, long-term investment department signals, medium- and near-term portfolio guidance and balance sheet management. “Our investment governance structure has served CPP Investments well […]
Evidence is growing that company standards on social factors are a major risk and opportunity set for institutional investors to examine. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted many social and ethical considerations that aren’t typically factored into the broader analysis that institutional investors perform on environmental, social and governance issues, says Bonnie Lyn de Bartok, founder […]