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 […]
The British Columbia Investment Management Corp. is reporting a 10 per cent annual combined pension plan return and an increase in assets under management to $251.6 billion as at March 31, 2025. The one-year return underperformed its benchmark of 12.3 per cent. Over a five, 10- and 15-year period, the investment organization achieved a return […]
The increasing size of alternative investments may be driving down their benefit for institutional investors, says Stephen Johnston, director at Omnigence Asset Management. “There are trillions of dollars in those strategies. How can they generate alpha now? Because when you get to that size you start to replicate market returns.” Read: 66% of institutional investors […]
Approximately US$330 billion green, social, sustainability, and sustainability-linked bonds in emerging markets will soon come to maturity, according to a new report by Amundi Asset Management. The expected bonds break down between $100 billion of GSSS bonds coming due in 2025 and $120 billion in 2026, compared to fewer than $50 billion in 2024. Read: […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is investing up to $720 million in Nido Living, a student housing operator in Europe. The financial backing will support Nido’s acquisition of Livensa Living, a student housing platform operating across Iberia owned by Brookfield Asset Management. The strategic acquisition demonstrates the CPPIB’s ongoing commitment to European student accommodation, […]
A column by Hub International’s Ken MacDonald on his recent health-care journey 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. Expert panel: From burnout to brain tumour and back 2. Amazon supporting new Canadians with legal benefits […]
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is creating new climate strategy goals and wants to achieve $400 billion in climate action investments by 2030. The investment organization exceeded its climate targets set back in 2017 at the end of 2024 and reported an approximately 50 per cent reduction in its carbon footprint, according […]
An uneasy economic landscape between Canada and the U.S. is pushing the University Pension Plan to perform more stress testing for new and existing investments south of the border, says chief investment officer Aaron Bennett. “It also makes us think a lot more about global inflation and how should we be thinking about [it] in […]