Over the last 20 years, managing a pension plan has looked a little like riding a roller coaster — with the 2001 technology bubble, 2008/09 financial crisis and the recent coronavirus market volatility providing sudden, gut-wrenching drops that can draw a scream from even the heartiest of souls. “From an investment standpoint, we’ve been in […]
The Local Authorities Pension Plan is in an interesting situation. Historically, the president of the Alberta Treasury Board and the minister of finance was the plan’s legal trustee and administrator, but in 2019, the LAPP became independent of government, with its own sponsor board and corporation, which now acts as the plan’s trustee and administrator. […]
Amid the activity — and inactivity — of this past summer, the federal government and several provinces reached an important milestone affecting plan sponsors and administrators of multi-jurisdictional pension plans. On July 1, 2020, a new agreement regarding the administration and regulation of these plans came into force. A little history Pension plan oversight primarily […]
Three-quarters (74 per cent) of Canadians said they’d accept a slightly lower salary in exchange for a better — or any — pension plan, according to a new survey by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and Abacus Data. The survey, which was conducted online in May and June among 3,500 Canadians aged 18 or older, […]
Proteus is promoting Teimaz Binesh, Lewis Powell and Michael Scott to senior investment consultants. In their new roles, they’ll continue to provide investment consulting and governance services to corporate pension plans, multi-employer plans, foundations and endowments, not-for-profit organizations and high-net-worth individuals, according to a press release. “I’m delighted to recognize these team members for their […]
The Pension Investment Association of Canada is expressing its support for the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario’s draft guidelines for pension plan sponsors dealing with missing members. In a letter, the PIAC said the draft guidelines would be helpful on a go-forward basis, but also noted plan administrators need more options regarding current missing […]
The government of Ontario is providing employers with the option to defer contributions to certain defined benefit pension plans to help with their organization’s cash flow during the coronavirus pandemic while providing safeguards for funding plan member benefits. The province has amended its Pension Benefits Act to allow for the temporary deferral of contributions, while the Financial Services […]
The Canadian Institute of Actuaries has selected FTSE Russell to represent the provincial and investment-grade corporate bond spread to be used for the CIA’s new market-based commuted-value calculation. The calculation is used to determine how much to pay a member of a registered defined benefit pension who leaves the plan and elects to receive their […]
Since retirees and active plan members are fundamentally different, should their investment options reflect that distinction? That’s the question confronting defined contribution plan sponsors as they explore the relatively new world of in-plan decumulation. As of January, when the Ontario government passed a series of new regulations under the Pension Benefits Act, the majority of […]
Faced with ballooning and unsustainable public pension liabilities, Taiwan’s government was forced to make a tough decision. In 2017, the country’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party passed a bill to dramatically cut retirement benefits for the country’s civil servants, public school teachers, police officers, firefighters and private sector workers. The changes were unpopular, but necessary. Underfunded […]