The payout formulas for Canadian public sector DB pension plans produce little-acknowledged inequities, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.
There may have been a strong rally in equity markets in the first quarter of 2012, but the financial status of pension plans only improved slightly, according to Aon Hewitt.
The solvency position of most Canadian pension plans improved in the first quarter of 2012 on the back of good equity market returns and a slight increase in long-term federal bond yields, according to the Mercer Pension Health Index. The index—which shows the ratio of assets to liabilities for a model pension plan—stood at 63% on March 31, up 3% from the end of the previous quarter.
With the mortality rate trending upwards, longevity risk has become a real financial risk for DB plans, says George Graziani, senior vice-president, client markets, Swiss Re.
The market value of Canadian employer-sponsored pension funds dropped to $1.06 trillion at the end of the third quarter of 2011, down 1.7% from Q2, according to Statistics Canada.
The Nova Scotia government has announced it’s making a change to provincial pension regulations in order to help flailing Dalhousie University.
Instead of advocating that public sector pensions be slashed as an emotional response to pension envy, small and medium-sized private sector businesses might more productively seek ways to achieve pension fairness by building their own retirement programs.
Canadian pension plan sponsors are preparing for sustained pension turmoil by making changes to plan design and investment strategies, according to results from Towers Watson’s 2012 Pension Risk Survey.
DC and DB plan sponsors grow more worried.
There’s a growing pessimism settling over the Canadian pension landscape, according to a recent survey by Towers Watson.