An article on the federal government’s notification to public employees on early retirement options was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com this past week. Here are the top five human resources, benefits, pension and investment stories of the last week: 1. Government sending early retirement info to nearly 70,000 public employees 2. CIBC appointing Yvonne Dimitroff […]
Heightened volatility could make defined benefit pension plan sponsors pause before deciding how to approach the use of favourable financial positions resulting in surpluses. While Canadian DB plan sponsors have been in surplus on a going concern basis for a significant amount of time, many are now facing a surplus situation on a solvency basis, […]
The average funded ratio of the typical Canadian defined benefit pension plan rose four per cent in the third quarter of 2025 to 134 per cent, according to a new report from Normandin Beaudry. It found a positive trend has continued throughout the year for Canadian DB plans with the funding ratio increasing five per […]
Some former Hudson’s Bay Co. employees have filed a class-action lawsuit seeking a share of the defunct retailer’s pension surplus. The court filing was made on behalf of workers who were enrolled in a pension plan offered by Simpsons, a rival department store HBC bought in the 1970s. The takeover made HBC the administrator of […]
A new regime of higher bond yields is pushing defined benefit pension plan sponsors around the world to diversify asset holdings and increase liability-driven investment flows, according to a new report by FTSE Russell. Despite a nearly 10-year low for credit spreads, high absolute yields increased discount rates sharply for DB plans, particularly in the […]
The Public Service Superannuation Plan is reporting a one-year investment return of 7.03 per cent, which pushed its net investment income to $562 million during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. The investment performance beat the actuarial assumed rate of return of 6.50 per cent but didn’t clear its policy benchmark’s return of 9.21 […]
The Canadian pension risk transfer market reached record-breaking demand in 2024 with $11 billion in deals at the end of the year, eclipsing the $7.8 billion combined total of annuities transactions in 2023 and 2022. Indeed, the fourth quarter of 2024 alone saw $5.2 billion of overall transactions, split between $1.5 billion in buy-ins and […]
The funded ratio of the average Canadian defined benefit pension plan grew by two per cent during the fourth quarter of 2024 and 12 per cent since the start of the year to 129 per cent, according to a new report by Normandin Beaudry. It found the average solvency ratio of Canadian pension plans was […]
An article on the federal government’s decision to transfer a $1.9 billion public pension surplus to general revenue was the most-read story on BenefitsCanada.com this past week. Here are the top five human resources, benefits, pension and investment stories of the last week: 1. Feds’ decision to transfer $1.9BN public pension surplus to general revenue within its […]
The federal government’s recent decision to transfer a $1.9 billion surplus from the Public Service Pension Plan to its general revenue is within its purview, says Mitch Frazer, a pension lawyer and managing partner at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. “[This situation is] slightly different because this plan is made by a statute and, […]