The Ontario Pension Board has appointed Chris Kautzky as its new chief investment officer. Set to start May 1, 2019, Kautzky will succeed Ken Lusk who’s retiring this year. For the past seven years, Kautzky has been a managing director at Aon Hewitt Investment Management Inc. Prior to that role, he was a partner at the […]
FTSE Russell, alongside DAR Data Services, will be launching an indicative digital assets index to test and evaluate a benchmark for the most actively traded assets in the category and to assist in firming up industry standards for the digital assets market. This market includes exchanges and trading venues that trade cryptocurrencies, digital tokens and […]
Over the past years, the MSCI emerging markets equity index has formed weighting biases and shortcomings, says David Dali, portfolio strategist at Matthews Asia, who recently published a piece on six sources of alpha within emerging markets. Yet opportunities are available in emerging markets for investors to capitalize on, he says, highlighting the importance of […]
OMERS Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, is expanding into Europe with the launch of a 300 million euro fund. Focusing on innovative technology startups, the fund’s aim is to support a multi-year global strategy for OMERS, following a major uptick in startup activity in Europe, according to a release. […]
The U.S. customized target-date fund market grew to US$430 billion at the end of 2017, according to the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association. The DCIIA’s inaugural survey on the market, which included data from 65 plans with a total of 673 different funds, found the majority of these funds are allocated to a mix of equities and fixed income. […]
While investing in products underpinned by a benchmark can offer opportunities for investors, these products and their benchmarks are not without problems, according to research from the Healthy Markets Association. For example, the benchmarks used in these products may be subject to conflicts of interest, at risk of being manipulated and not be transparent enough, the study said. “Conflicts […]
Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. is partnering with Acclaim Ability Management Inc. to offer one-on-one coaching services to employees on short-term disability leave with mental-health issues. With the goal of getting their employees back to work sooner, employers can choose between two offerings to lower the risk of STD turning into a long-term disability leave. “We’re taking employee support to the […]
The Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group’s international headquarters has been recognized for the building’s ability to support the physical, mental and social health of its 1,500 employees. The Montreal building is the first in Quebec and 12th in Canada to receive a rating from Fitwel, a global health certification that evaluates evidence-based strategies in buildings […]
While 72 per cent of Canadian employers said they expect to differentiate their benefits programs for recruitment and retention in the next three years, just 12 per cent currently do so, according to a new survey by Willis Towers Watson. It found 60 per cent of employers now offer flexible benefits, and this is set […]
Across the entire asset management value chain, data is helping traditional managers improve, a new study by McKinsey & Company found. Data can improve investment performance by helping eliminate bias in decision making, discovering new sources of alpha through alternative data sets and enhancing the research process, the study said. But big data isn’t just […]