Expert Panel – Benefits Canada.com

Expert panel: How DB pension plan sponsors can use surplus – test

Cassie Pastorfide — Tue, 16 May 2023 13:00:55 +0000

In 2022, the typical defined benefit pension plan achieved an investment return of roughly negative 12 per cent. However, due to dramatic increases in bond yields and a subsequent decrease in pension liabilities, many pension plans ended 2022 with the same — or better — solvency funded level that they had at the beginning of […]

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Expert panel: How to get, keep top talent amid labour crunch

mdunne — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 14:00:17 +0000

For months, Canadian employers have been creaking under the strain of a labour crunch. Finding top talent has always been one of leaders’ most pressing issues and there has often been a shortage of talent for key roles. In addition, Canada — as a whole, in my opinion — has never fully unlocked the skills […]

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Expert panel: Inflation risk — to hedge or not to hedge?

Gideon Scanlon — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 17:30:10 +0000

With October inflation hitting an 18-year high, inflation risk is back on the radar of plan sponsors providing inflation-linked defined benefit pensions. In the past, it’s been challenging to hedge inflation risk. Fortunately, more efficient solutions have emerged over the last several years. What is inflation risk? For a plan that provides inflation-linked benefits, inflation […]

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Expert panel: How to connect with employees in a remote world

mdunne — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 14:00:21 +0000

In Canada, the coronavirus pandemic is entering a new phase — vaccines are widely available, travel restrictions are gradually lifting and people are returning to some normal routines in their personal lives. People’s work lives are also entering a new phase, with many employers and employees thinking about when — and if — they’ll return […]

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Expert panel: Less talk, more action needed to move needle on DEI at top

mdunne — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 13:00:49 +0000

While talk about the importance of improving diversity on corporate boards and in the C-suite has been ongoing for decades, actual action has been too slow. In 2020, there were more chief executive officers named Michael or James than actual women CEOs in the U.S., with just six per cent of the top 500 public […]

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Expert panel: A look at commodity price behaviour over the business cycles

Gideon Scanlon — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 16:35:04 +0000

With gas and oil prices reaching new heights last week, panicking both politicians and consumers, we must ask ourselves if this behaviour is typical of commodity prices in every business cycle or if we’re at the threshold of a major economic disaster? In the 1930s, Nicholas Kaldor analyzed commodity prices and their behaviour over the […]

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Expert panel: Six ways to incorporate green initiatives into benefits offerings

mdunne — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 13:00:39 +0000

The Council of Parties to the United Nations’ climate convention, known as COP26, which is currently underway in Glasgow has put climate change on the global stage and top of mind for many employers and employees. There are many elements an employer can take into consideration when crafting a benefits strategy — competitiveness in the […]

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Expert panel: How could inflation impact DB pension plans?

mdunne — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 13:00:17 +0000

After being off of Canadians’ radar screens for years, the re-emergence of inflation in recent months is receiving significant attention for many, including pension plan professionals. Some believe the inflationary increases will be transitory because recent price increases are primarily due to short-term disruptions in the Canadian economy caused by the emergence from restrictions due […]

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Expert panel: The concept of risk and risk management in value investing and modern portfolio theory

Gideon Scanlon — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 17:15:20 +0000

Between mixed signals about inflation, signs of structural weakness in China’s over-leveraged real estate sector and September’s low returns on global equities, institutional investors have just been through a volatile quarter. And the fourth quarter is likely to be filled with hidden hazards, both known unknowns and unknown unknowns. Most portfolio managers will try to […]

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Sounding board: Institutional investors making Canada’s approach to China unsustainable

Gideon Scanlon — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 13:00:41 +0000

With the repatriation of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor following their three-year incarceration in China, relations between Ottawa and Beijing are to be reset. As Foreign Minister Marc Garneau put it, Canada will now coexist, compete, co-operate and challenge China. To do this, Canada should start paying closer attention to the signals its pension […]

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