The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario is seeking feedback on its approach to monitoring single-employer defined benefit pension plans with benefits that could be at risk. The regulator said it will evaluate risks to pension benefits by their nature, size, complexity and potential impact on all plan stakeholders. It will focus its regulatory resources […]
Unifor national president Jerry Dias and 13 other union members were arrested Monday night in Regina after the union blockaded the Federated Co-operatives Ltd. refinery as part of an ongoing conflict over employees’ defined benefit pension plan. The barricades are another escalation in an increasingly tense labour dispute that saw Co-op lock out more than […]
Pension plan sponsors in Ontario are celebrating a small win. The government is changing the rules so plans with less than $10 million in assets will no longer be required to file annual audited financial statements. Since 1992, plans with less than $3 million in assets weren’t required to file audited financial statements with the […]
The Iron Ore Co. of Canada has purchased a $560 million group annuity buy-in that covers more than 3,700 defined benefit plan beneficiaries and current retirees. The transaction with Sun Life Financial and Morneau Shepell Ltd. represents the largest Canadian same-day deal with a single insurer, according to a press release. “We continue to see these transactions […]
When pension plans have access to a lot of forecasting information, it’s easy to be tempted into straying from an initial plan. Yet sticking to strategy is key, said Duncan Burrill, managing director and chief executive officer of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. pension fund, speaking at a Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute event in Toronto […]
North American envelope marker and marketer Supremex Inc. is purchasing a $46 million group annuity buy-in through RBC Life Insurance Co. The deal covers 361 defined benefit plan pensioners, beneficiaries and deferred vested members. It comes on the heels of an almost $7 million transaction made in June 2018 for a smaller group of members […]
Four more employers have joined the College of Applied Arts and Technology pension plan’s DBplus. In total, more than 1,000 new members from the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Toronto, FP Canadian Newspapers and United Way of Greater Toronto are now in the plan, effective Jan. 1. In addition, law firm Wright Henry LLP joined in October 2019, according […]
Ontario’s pension benefits guarantee fund has successfully reclaimed some $200 million from monies allocated to pensioners in Nortel Networks Corp. bankruptcy proceedings. The silver lining for pensioners is that the decision by the Financial Services Tribunal finally puts an end to the uncertainty they’ve experienced since their benefits were cut off in 2010. “It would have […]
Canada’s defined benefit pension plans increased their solvency levels in 2019 and have equity markets to thank, according to Mercer. The Mercer pension health index, which represents the solvency of a hypothetical plan, increased to 112 per cent in the final quarter of the year, up from 105 per cent at the end of the […]
The holiday season is a time to reflect on the events of 2019 and how they may affect trends in the year to come. I predict a couple of trends on the pension landscape in 2020: much needed progress on the expansion of decumulation options and the outsourcing of the chief investment officer function. Expansion of […]