On Friday, a judge in Norwich, U.K. ruled that ethical veganism qualifies as a philosophical belief under Britain’s Equality Act, in a pension-related case filed by ethical vegan Jordi Casamitjana against his former employer, the League Against Cruel Sports. In late 2018, Casamitjana took his grievance to Britain’s employment tribunal, alleging he was unduly dismissed for raising concerns over the organization’s […]
Investors are waiting for some of the conflicts causing global uncertainty to be resolved. But will they get their wish in 2020? “We’re entering the year, the decade, on pretty unstable footing,” said Dawn Desjardins, vice-president and deputy chief economist at the Royal Bank of Canada, during the keynote session at the Canadian Investment Review’s 2019 […]
In the investment space, readers were focused on the moves of the big public pension funds and real estate investment in 2019, with the top three most-read stories tackling those topics. Benefits Canada rounds up the industry’s favourite investment stories of the year: 1. Canadian DB plans return median 1.7 per cent in Q3 2. Hugh O’Reilly stepping down from OPTrust 3. OPTrust partners […]
This month’s Head to head considers the merits of both defined benefit and defined contribution plans as the country’s pension landscape becomes an increasingly diverse patchwork. Jerry Dias, president of Unifor National: Let’s cut to the chase. Absent a voice for workers through a union and collective bargaining, there really wouldn’t be much debate around defined […]
As private equity becomes a more sizeable part of Canadian pension portfolios, the British Columbia Investment Management Corp.’s resources and staffing are growing with it. In April 2016, when Jim Pittman joined the BCI as its senior vice-president of private equity, his group comprised six or seven people. Three and a half years later, the […]
Since the financial crisis, the Pension Plan for the Employees of Concordia University has transformed the way it approaches investments by introducing its first funding policy and revamping its investment policy. Historically, the plan had a 60/40 asset mix and its board of directors was completely focused on the asset side of the equation, says […]
In 2009, the Air Canada pension plan was in dire straits with a $2.6 billion solvency deficit. A decade later, it has a surplus of more than $2 billion. The complete turnaround is in part due to a new investment team that joined in 2009 and transformed the pension fund’s investments. With the $21 billion […]
The majority of Canadian institutional investors say they don’t think shareholders should take precedent over all other stakeholders, including employees, at a given company, according to a new survey by Daniel J. Edelman Holdings Inc. It found 91 per cent of respondents said maximizing profits in the interest of shareholders can no longer be the primary purpose of […]
In the 1970s and early 1980s, defined benefit plan members clamoured for the portability provided by converting their plans to defined contribution arrangements. But that enthusiasm has waned over the years, with the majority of capital accumulation plan members simply not up for the challenge of managing their own investments. For plan sponsors, concerns also include […]
While public equities appear to be holding steady, at least for the moment, certain longer-term indicators could give institutional investors cause for concern. “Growth is not at risk and inflation is nowhere to be found. And those two factors are likely to push central banks to become complacent,” says Florian Ielpo, head of macroeconomic research at Unigestion […]