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 […]
Last year, the Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System embarked on a journey to redefine its risk management strategy, with the process pushing the organization to separate its views on risk into three categories. After becoming the OMERS’ chief risk officer in June 2023, Deb Barnes asked the organization’s board for a mandate to refresh the […]
Risk management continues to be one of the hottest topics in the pension industry for a number of reasons, including the uncertainty caused by the current geopolitical and economic climate and the September 2024 release of the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities’ new guideline for risk management for plan administrators. While pension plan administrators […]
The Canadian annuity purchase market recorded $700 million in transactions during the first quarter of 2025, according to a new report by Telus Health. It noted a “notable deceleration” in the volume of transactions after what a record-breaking year, which isn’t uncommon for the first quarter of a new year. The last quarter of 2024 […]
The funded position of a typical Canadian defined benefit pension plan increased both on a solvency and accounting basis in January, according to Telus Health’s latest pension index. It found the average funded position increased slightly on a solvency basis from 100 per cent to 101.6 per cent at the end of the month. On […]
The British Columbia Financial Services Authority is releasing a stand-alone information security guideline for pension plan administrators based in the province. The guideline, which will come into effect on July 1, 2025, aims to help mitigate information security risks and ensure timely reporting of material security incidents, according to a press release. Until then, all […]
While good governance practices must be at the core of any pension plan, intricate frameworks are designed to be proportional to the size of the sponsoring organization, according to Leah Fichter, vice-chair at the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities and deputy superintendent of pensions and executive director of the pensions division at the Financial […]
In 2025, the Association of Canadian Pension Management is focusing on flexible pension plan models amid a backdrop of multiple elections taking place across Canada. Korinne Collins, chief executive officer at the ACPM, says flexibility is needed around decumulation strategies for defined contribution plans and the potential for different income tax treatments for workers looking […]
The funded position of a typical Canadian defined benefit pension plan decreased both on a solvency and accounting basis in December 2024, according to Telus Health’s latest pension index. It found the funded position declined slightly on a solvency basis to 111.3 per cent in December, down from 111.4 per cent at the end of […]
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 […]