An article on incoming changes to Nova Scotia’s provincial Pension Benefits Act 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. Nova Scotia to allow unlocking of pension benefits 2. Alberta government fires AIMCo CEO, board, citing rising costs and poor […]
With 15 different client organizations, including nine public sector pension plans, the Alberta Investment Management Corp. has opted to engage, rather than divest, from certain investments, particularly those in the energy sector. “One of the things we were very clear on, both for ourselves and in talking to clients, is that divestment wasn’t the way […]
In the years following the 2008/09 financial crisis, Dan Langlois realized the allocation strategy for the Calgary Foundation’s endowment portfolio needed a significant adjustment if it planned to meet its annual funding goals. “I knew we needed to do something in terms of increasing the return in the portfolio to preserve the corpus or the […]
The United Nations’ Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance is reporting that 81 of its institutional investor members, representing combined assets under management of US$9.4 trillion, have set intermediate decarbonization targets. In its fourth progress report, the institutional investor association also reported reductions in absolute financed emissions of, on average, at least six per cent annually. The […]
The ratio of the market value of assets to the projected benefit obligation for a hypothetical benchmark plan changed little for global defined benefit pension plans in the third quarter of 2024, according to a new report by WTW. It found this ratio increased among DB plans in Brazil (0.9 per cent), Canada (1.2 per […]
The Canadian edition of an international set of sustainability investment disclosure standards will be officially released in December, according to the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board. The organization was tasked with creating a set of sustainability investment standards in Canada based on those created by the International Sustainability Standards Board. The two new disclosure metrics — CSDS […]
Alberta’s finance minister has sacked the chief executive officer and entire board of directors of the Alberta Investment Management Corp., the Crown corporation that manages pension and other funds for the province and handles more than $160 billion in assets. Finance Minister Nate Horner said in a statement Thursday that the changes at the AIMCo are due […]
While an arduous U.S. presidential election cycle may have created some market volatility, any uncertainties among Canadian institutional investors may begin to wane following Donald Trump’s election as the 47th U.S. president on Wednesday, says Ian Riach, senior vice-president and portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions. “Economics tend to trump politics . . . . […]
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is investing roughly US$515 million to acquire a 24.5 per cent stake in video games service provider Keywords Studios. The acquisition of the Ireland-based firm is being completed alongside EQT AB and Temasek Holdings Ltd. In a press release, Caitlin Gubbels, senior managing director and head of private equity […]
While political tensions have recently flared between Canada and India, institutional investors are unlikely to adjust their capital allocation to the country, says Partha Mohanram, John H. Watson chair in value investing at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. “I don’t [have] any indication that you’re going to see any kind […]