U.S. public pension plan sponsors have significantly diversified their portfolios since 2001, allocating, on average, 20 per cent of assets from public equities and fixed income to private equity, real estate, hedge funds and other alternative investments, according to a new report by Aon and the National Institute on Retirement Security. It found this shift […]
A group of former municipal police officers who were recruited by the Ontario Provincial Police have launched multi-million-dollar lawsuits against the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and the Ontario Pension Board over alleged losses suffered during their pension transfers. As part of their moves to the OPP from various municipal police forces — including the […]
Pension plans play an important economic role by distributing billions of dollars annually to retirees, who then spend this money in the economy while enjoying a certain level of financial comfort. Businesses providing goods and services, in turn, purchase products and services from various suppliers, who do the same with their own suppliers, and so […]
The cryptocurrency-friendly administration of President-elect Donald Trump and an expanding lobbying effort in statehouses could push states to become more open to crypto and lead public pension funds and treasuries to buy into it. Many bitcoin enthusiasts and investors are quick to say government-backed currencies are prone to devaluation and increased government buy-ins will stabilize […]
In 2022, U.S. retiree spending — driven by private and public sector defined benefit pension payouts — generated US$1.5 trillion in total economic output and supported 7.1 million jobs, according to a new report by the National Institute on Retirement Security. It found in addition to the impact on employment and economic activity, DB pension […]
The swift removal of the chief executive officer, three executives and the 11-person board at the Alberta Investment Management Corp. is a dramatic move that raises red flags about the influence of Alberta’s provincial government, says Anthony Guindon, a partner at Koskie Minsky LLP. “We don’t entirely know at this stage but it makes one […]
An article on Citigroup Inc.’s new parental and caregiver leave programs for U.S. employees 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. Citigroup enhancing parental leave, introducing caregiver leave for U.S., Puerto Rico employees 2. Caisse invests $35M in energy […]
The estimated funded ratio of U.S. state and municipal pension plans is expected to increase to 80.6 per cent in 2024 due to the outperformance of investment targets, according to a new report by Equable Institute. The report, which analyzed trends in benefits, cash flows, contributions, funding and investments at 245 of the largest U.S. […]
The recent pressure put on Canadian pensions plans from private managers and governments to re-discover an investment home bias has been met with little enthusiasm, despite special interest by both federal and provincial governments to potentially tap pension fund capital for infrastructure given that current expenditure eats up a large share of the budget. Infrastructure […]
In its 2024 budget on Tuesday, the Ontario government reiterated its support for a provincial infrastructure bank to leverage public sector pension investments. The bank, renamed the Building Ontario Fund, was announced in the province’s 2023 fall economic statement and will support the development of new long‐term care homes, energy infrastructure, affordable housing, municipal and […]