Pension plan membership in Ontario increased year-over-year to 4.8 million in 2025 and David Bartucci, head of pension plan operations and regulatory effectiveness at the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, says it’s a welcome surprise. “We’ve invested energy in the Pension Awareness Day [campaign and] to see an increase in the number of people […]
Liam O’Sullivan remembers what it was like for fixed income asset managers before technology started taking over. When his firm RP Investment Advisors began doing business in 2009, portfolio managers had to manually look through pricing runs from dealers and write down buying and selling opportunities on the back of an envelope alongside a calculation […]
The derivatives market is experiencing growing adoption among both institutional and retail investors as awareness and education about the asset class continues to grow, says Shawn Creighton, director of index derivatives solutions at FTSE Russell. “I think [investors are] a bit more comfortable understanding how derivatives can fit in their specific financial portfolio, whereas before […]
In uncertain times, asset owners may not necessarily be looking for new allocation opportunities from investment managers, says Jahangir Aka, founder of Aka & Associates. He says when asset owners experience geopolitical shocks, these institutional investors would first inspect their portfolios’ resilience. “They need to go and figure out what cracks there are in the […]
The Ontario Pension Board’s net assets totaled $36.6 billion at the end of 2025, compared to $34.1 billion at the end of 2024. The pension administrator reported a seven per cent net total fund return for the year, compared to 8.1 per cent in 2024. Over a five- and 10-year period, the plan reported a […]
A workforce that’s sprawled across the country is pushing Simon Cabral (pictured centre), former director of global defined contribution plans at Scotiabank, to employ a fully digital approach when communicating with employees. “We have to, we have no choice really to reach our cohorts across the country,” he said during a panel session at Benefits Canada’s […]
By slotting alternative assets into portfolio offerings, Saskatchewan’s Public Employees Pension Plan is incorporating an element of the defined benefit pension plan model, according to Gary Hutch, chief investment officer and executive vice-president of investments at Plannera Pensions & Benefits, which administers the plan. “We believe that including all of these alternatives provides more of […]
The Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities’ updated capital accumulation plan guideline led CPP Investments to sharpen accountability and governance risk globally, according to Marina Lodyga, the investment organization’s director of pension and benefits, during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2026 Defined Contribution Plan Summit. CPP Investments has around 500 workers across eight global offices […]
Canada and China are on a pragmatic path to establish an updated working relationship that could include private capital investments, says Jia Wang, senior fellow at the University of Alberta’s China Institute and a senior fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation. Last week, Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne held several meetings with Chinese officials in […]
More than half (56 per cent) of plan members say email is the most effective way to communicate with them about their savings plans, according to Benefits Canada’s 2026 Employee Savings Survey. The survey, which polled 500 Canadian plan members, found traditional mail (18 per cent) was a distant second preferred communications tool, followed by […]