corporate bonds – Benefits Canada.com

Pensions in position to off load risks: expert

Gideon Scanlon — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 17:00:02 +0000

“Plans are, for the first time in a long time, in a position to off-load risk,” says Murray Wright, one of the contributors to LifeWorks Inc.’s monthly report on Canadian pensions. According to Wright, the principal of retirement and financial solutions at LifeWorks, pension chief financial officers are paying particular attention to one number found […]

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Head to head: Should plan sponsors buy annuities via insurers or go DIY?

bwolfe — Fri, 14 May 2021 12:59:54 +0000

Two experts weigh in on the merits and drawbacks of taking the traditional annuities route versus opting for the newer do-it-yourself option. Marco Dickner, retirement risk management leader for Willis Towers Watson in Canada Although annuity purchases have become an important pension risk management option over the last decade, a countertrend is emerging for plan […]

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How a central bank’s policy can impact investments on the other side of the world

mschmit — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 05:55:28 +0000

How do the European Central Bank’s monetary-policy decisions influence corporate debt levels in the U.S.? The ECB’s purchasing of investment-grade, corporate, Euro-denominated bonds seemingly crowded Eurozone institutional investors out of such instruments and Eurozone investors increased their allocations to U.S. dollar corporate bonds soon after, according to a new paper by Kerry Siani, a PhD […]

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How do sovereign bonds differ when it comes to ESG?

mschmit — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 04:37:15 +0000

Environmental, social and governance factors are highly relevant to fixed income investment outcomes, but integration is complicated by the variety of issuers within the asset class. For corporate fixed income, integration is quite simple. Issuers could use the same frameworks as their equity counterparts, such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s materiality map, said Joshua […]

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In perfect balance: Different approaches to rebalancing pension portfolios

mschmit — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 03:53:16 +0000

The recent market turmoil caused by the coronavirus crisis has increased the focus on rebalancing decisions for many Canadian pension plans. As certain asset classes outperform others, a portfolio’s asset mix will drift overtime from its long-term targets. To ensure no significant divergence from the target, rebalancing triggers the sale of the strong performing asset […]

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How resilient were bond funds in the face of coronavirus?

mschmit — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 06:42:29 +0000

Market turmoil caused by the coronavirus served as a real-life test for bond funds and their liquidity, according to a new paper from the Bank of Canada. The amount of corporate bonds held by open-ended fixed-income mutual funds is growing, sitting at around 23 per cent of the total market of corporate Canadian-dollar denominated bonds, […]

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Bank of Canada launches corporate bond purchase program

mschmit — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 06:23:32 +0000

Last week marked the beginning of an unprecedented one-year program through which the Bank of Canada is purchasing corporate bonds. The program, originally announced on April 15, aims to support the corporate debt market’s liquidity and “proper functioning.” It involves TD Asset Management purchasing bonds through a tender process on the secondary market on behalf […]

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Bank of Canada would have cut rates on oil shock alone, Poloz tells MPs

mschmit — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 04:21:06 +0000

The governor of the Bank of Canada says the central bank would have likely slashed its key interest rate in response to plunging oil prices, if that alone had been the only shock to the domestic economy. The cut might even have been to the current 0.25 per cent level it reached as the COVID-19 […]

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A coronavirus game plan for defined benefit pension plans

mschmit — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 09:23:49 +0000

The novel coronavirus has introduced unprecedented volatility to financial markets and is taking its toll on pension plans. We’ve seen sharp corrections in most equity markets. At its lowest point in the correction to date, the S&P 500 lost 34 per cent of its value, from its peak in February. The TSX, which has also […]

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Getting the most from a corporate bond portfolio

mschmit — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 06:49:45 +0000

Canadian pension plans have increased their demand for long corporate bonds, but high demand and low yields combined with a relatively small marketplace in Canada can pose challenges for investors, said Randall Malcolm, senior managing director and portfolio manager of Canadian public fixed income at SLC Management. “When we look at the supply side of […]

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