Plan design changes are on the horizon for the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System’s primary pension plan. The OMERS Sponsors Corp. board has approved five plan changes. The first three changes are effective immediately and are tied to circumstances related to the coronavirus. The other two are part of the annual plan review, which were […]
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is appointing Karen Frank as senior managing director of equities. Based in the pension fund’s London office, she’ll take on the new role in fall of 2020. “Equities is an integral part of Ontario Teachers’ asset mix, contributing significantly to our ability to deliver on the pension promise to our members,” said Ziad Hindo, […]
The Ontario Pension Board has released a statement addressing the role it plays in standing against anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. “I know some of you may be wondering why we didn’t share a message of support sooner,” read the letter from Mark Fuller, the OPB’s president and chief executive officer. “While statements of support matter, […]
Saskatchewan refinery workers have ratified a tentative agreement with Federated Co-operatives Ltd., bringing an end to a half-year labour dispute over the company’s defined benefit pension plan. The new seven-year collective agreement for Unifor Local 594 members, who voted 89 per cent in favour, will maintain the DB pension plan and the employer-matched employee savings plan […]
Saskatchewan’s Public Employees Benefits Agency is engaging CIBC Mellon to provide global and domestic custody, institutional accounting and securities lending. Through the partnership, the PEBA will use BNY Mellon global risk solutions’ data and analytics tools for its performance and compliance reporting for the defined benefit pension plans administered by the PEBA — the public employees’ pension plan and the […]
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario is updating its guidance for pension plans around filing deadlines and member communications. The update reflects the government of Ontario’s regulations amending the Pension Benefits Act. The amendments are effective as of June 18 or some period relative to that date, which may mean the regulation changes won’t provide relief to some administrators if their […]
As part of a new collective agreement ratified earlier this year, employees at Hamilton, Ont.-based Vopak Terminals have joined the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology pension plan’s DBPlus arrangement, effective June 1, 2020. With the change, these employees, who are members of Unifor, move from a defined contribution plan into a defined benefit plan. Since […]
Alberta’s Fair Deal panel is recommending that the provincial government withdraws from the Canada Pension Plan and creates its own, subject to a referendum. “The panel recommends vigorously exploring this option and conducting the due diligence needed to assure Albertans that benefits and risks are understood and can be positively managed,” wrote the panel. “Albertans will […]
Investors were already feeling the pressures of historically low interest rates. Then came the coronavirus pandemic. The Bank of Canada cut its overnight interest rate at the end of March to an all-time low of 0.25 per cent and announced a plan to spend $5 billion per week on Government of Canada bonds. This came […]
Quebec-based pension fund Bâtirente reached $764.3 million in assets under management as of Dec. 31, 2019, an increase of 15.6 per cent on the previous year, according to its latest annual report. The fund also boasted 22,861 plan members in 2019 — a growth of 4.9 per cent over 2018 — from 318 organizations across […]