The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan reported a strong 2019, posting a 17.14 per cent return for the year and hitting a funded status of 119 per cent on a smoothed basis. The fund outperformed its benchmark by 2.08 per cent — or just over $1.65 million — and far surpassed 2018’s return of 2.2 […]
In 2016, when Aon’s Calum Mackenzie departed the U.K. for Canada, he left behind a pension industry still reeling from the introduction, a year earlier, of an annual charge cap on defined contribution plan investment funds. But when Mackenzie, now the consultancy’s Canadian head of investment, recently caught up with a former colleague on the […]
Corporate governance, climate change and human rights in the digital economy are primary focuses for Northwest & Ethical Investments in 2020. The Canadian firm’s annual corporate engagement focus list highlights five key themes and 26 investee companies it intends to engage with throughout the year. It’s planning to engage companies on governance issues including board diversity and board and […]
Back in 1709, the poet Alexander Pope wrote that a little learning is a dangerous thing and a new study of defined contribution pension plan members finds this proverb still holds true today. The Invesco study, which compiled responses from 110 U.S. plan sponsors and more than 2,000 DC plan members, found that, while some DC plan members were […]
Global institutional investors believe asset managers need to up their technology game if they’re going to win the client-satisfaction war, according to a new report by Greenwich Associates. The report, which featured data from interviews with more than 150 senior decision-makers at large institutional investors in North America and Europe, found more than half believe their asset […]
The gross income replacement levels for a typical capital accumulation plan have decreased by more than 10 per cent during the past 11-year bull market, according to a report by Eckler Ltd. After the financial crisis in late 2008 the economy rebounded, but more than a decade of strong stock returns weren’t enough to markedly improve the amount of income […]
Along with more traditional asset classes like fixed income or private equities, litigation finance is another area for pension funds to keep on their radars. With litigation financing, an investor provides an upfront funding commitment to a plaintiff to typically be deployed on certain milestones of a legal case, with the expectation of sharing in […]
West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. isn’t annuitizing multiple defined benefit plans to get out of the pension business. In fact, the British Columbia-based integrated wood products company is committed to DB. “We believe we get tremendous value out of our DB plans around recruitment and definitely around retention of our employees,” says Elaine Jensen, the […]
The University of Toronto Asset Management Corp. is teaming up with more than 120 institutional investors to call on the aviation sector to confront the issue of climate change-related risks and opportunities. The UTAM signed a statement from the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Investment, which lays out investors’ expectations on climate change for the sector. […]
Canadian defined contribution plans offer a range of investment choices, from a single balanced fund, in some cases, to more than 25 options. Douglas Anderson, corporate services officer at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario: As a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s pension committee, I believe in offering […]