The city council of Saint John, N.B. has voted to make a $8.7 million payment toward the city’s pension plan deficit on Monday, but that will hardly make a dent in the $129 million pension deficit. “This payment unfortunately has to be made on behalf of the taxpayers of the city and [we] have to […]
Teachers’ has announced it will participate in an auction later this week for larger stakes in two Chilean water utilities in which it currently owns majority positions. The current members of the controlling group in Essbio S.A. and Esval S.A. intend to purchase all of the shares being offered by CORFO, a Chilean government agency, […]
After three consecutive quarters of gains, Mercer’s pension index shows that many Canadian plans suffered moderate losses in the second quarter of 2011 as a result of negative Canadian equity returns and a decline in federal bond yields. The index stood at 71% as of June 30, down 4% over the quarter. “Long-term federal bond […]
After the economic turmoil that defined 2008 and decimated assets in many pension plans, few expected the turnaround in markets that occurred in 2009. In last year’s Top 100 Pension Funds Report, 66 of the funds on the list posted double-digit increases in assets for 2009. Only eight ended the year with decreases. While many […]
Air Canada employees are back to work today after a tentative agreement on pay and pensions was reached yesterday, ending a three-day strike and 12 weeks of negotiations. CAW president Ken Lewenza said the new agreement is an important achievement for the 3,800 CAW members at Air Canada who resisted company demands for major pension […]
In his book, Proofiness, Charles Seife quotes a 2007 survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control that found an American male, on average, has sex with seven women in his lifetime while an American female has sex with four men in her lifetime. Seife claims this finding is ridiculous, given there are roughly the […]
Other plans might be increasing member contribution rates but the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) board of trustees says HOOPP won’t be one of them. Member and employer contribution rates will remain stable in 2013. “Stability is an important objective for HOOPP,” says the plan’s president and CEO John Crocker. “HOOPP’s fully funded status […]
Two of the hottest topics in pension fund management today are de-risking and whether traditional asset allocation strategies have failed. Two industry experts weighed in on these topics during a panel discussion at the recent Canada Cup of Investment Management, held in Toronto. De-risking: old tool in a new wrapper? William Solomon, a consulting actuary […]
Maple Group Acquisition Corp, made up of 13 pension funds and Canadian financial institutions, has officially launched its $3.7 billion hostile bid for the TMX Group Inc. The official submission offers to buy 70% of TMX for $48 per share. The Maple Group hopes that will be enough to make a case for its offer […]
The shift from DB to DC plans has done nothing to address Canada’s retirement funding crisis, aside from insulating plan sponsors from the risks of underfunding. Because there are no benchmarks for a DC plan, the concept of “underfunding” has lost meaning to all but the plan members, who risk underfunding their retirement needs. That’s […]