The shift to hybrid and remote work models during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is one of several issues impacting pension plan and group benefits administrators in 2022, said Michael Wolpert, a pensions and benefits lawyer at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, during a webinar on Jan. 13 hosted by the Canadian Pension & Benefits Institute. Specifically, […]
Members of Puerto Rico’s public sector pension plans are facing a benefits freeze and the transformation of their defined benefits plans to defined contribution plans. The decision to cut changed the plans was made as a result of an ongoing financial crisis in the most populous U.S. territory. After it defaulted on bonds in 2014, politicians […]
Asset managers that incorporate climate change into their investment processes are increasingly looking beyond commitments to net zero and exploring the impact on asset valuation, said Michelle Dunstan, chief responsibility officer at AllianceBernstein, during a session at the Canadian Investment Review‘s 2021 Investment Innovation Conference. “A changing climate can be described both in terms of […]
The Association of Canadian Pension Management is once again calling on the Ontario government to modernize the Employment Standards Act and the Pension Benefits Act to allow for automatic enrolment and escalation features in capital accumulation plans. In a letter sent to the ministry of labour on Nov. 30, 2021, the ACPM noted the changes […]
Four undergraduates from the Copenhagen Business School have claimed the top prize at the 2021 McGill International Portfolio Challenge by designing a collective defined contribution plan aimed at balancing the needs of older and younger plan members. Since 2017, the MPIC has challenged university students around the world to propose solutions to societal issues. This […]
Oregon’s state employee retirement fund is coming under increased scrutiny as the U.S. state is facing increased calls for divestment from companies that have environmental, social and governance issues. Oregon residents are increasingly pushing for the state to divest from fossil fuel companies and other controversial investments, but the state treasury is resisting and putting […]
Ohio’s largest public employee pension fund is suing Facebook — now known as Meta — alleging that it broke U.S. federal securities law by purposely misleading the public about the negative effects of its social platforms and the algorithms that run them. The lawsuit by the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System specifically claims that Facebook buried inconvenient findings […]
Canada ranks 12th out of 43 countries for its pension system, according to a new report by Mercer and the CFA Institute. The countries in the report were ranked on the adequacy and integrity of their pension systems and the sustainability of pension investments. Overall, Canada received a grade of 69.8 — 8.8 points above the […]
Governance-related resolutions are receiving more overall votes from defined contribution pension plan members, but environmental issues are more engaging on a vote-per-measure basis, according to a new survey by two U.K.-based organizations. The study, by asset management firm Legal and General Investment Management Ltd. and fintech company Tumelo, found measures related to all levels of […]
The Alberta Investment Management Corp. has reached an investment management agreement with the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund Board following a protracted period of negotiation. The agreement will see the Alberta Teachers’ assets, valued at $19.1 billion in its 2020 annual report, transferred to the custody of the AIMCO. According to Rod Matheson, the Alberta Teachers’ […]