Osler Hoskin and Harcourt LLP is appointing Andrea Boctor as a partner in its pensions and benefits group. Boctor’s practice encompasses all areas of pensions and benefits law, including pension administration, investment structuring and compliance and pension issues that arise in the context of transactions, lending and restructurings. In addition, her practice has a particular […]
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is launching a three-month consultation on risks and other considerations regarding technological advancements impacting Canada’s financial sector. Along with a discussion paper, the consultation’s objective is to ensure federally regulated financial institutions and pension plans have solid strategies to manage non-financial risks. According to the agency, while rapidly […]
The Canadian Institute of Actuaries has selected FTSE Russell to represent the provincial and investment-grade corporate bond spread to be used for the CIA’s new market-based commuted-value calculation. The calculation is used to determine how much to pay a member of a registered defined benefit pension who leaves the plan and elects to receive their […]
Retirement income can be sliced into three broad categories: what an individual receives from their employer, what they receive from the government and everything else. While plan sponsors are naturally most concerned with what they provide for plan members, including all forms of income in the conversation is integral to properly planning for retirement, says […]
Faced with ballooning and unsustainable public pension liabilities, Taiwan’s government was forced to make a tough decision. In 2017, the country’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party passed a bill to dramatically cut retirement benefits for the country’s civil servants, public school teachers, police officers, firefighters and private sector workers. The changes were unpopular, but necessary. Underfunded […]
The median projected solvency for Ontario’s defined benefit pension plans increased to 90 per cent at the end of 2020’s second quarter, up from 85 per cent in the first quarter, as measured by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario. The regulator estimated about three-quarters of plans had double-digit investment returns for the quarter, […]
The Ontario Teachers Insurance Plan and its group of companies are the latest employers to join the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology’s DBplus pension plan. Effective Sept. 7, 685 full-time employees — including 639 from Ontario, 23 from Alberta and 23 from Quebec — joined DBplus on a go-forward basis. In addition, all part-time […]
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority is seeking stakeholder input on draft guidance on providing consent for asset transfer transactions under the Pension Benefits Act. Aiming to support predictability and transparency for defined benefit plan administrators, sponsors and members and to protect of the rights of members, the guidance sets out how the FSRA will exercise its discretion and […]
Real estate, a long-time stable, returns-generating asset class for pension plans, may no longer be as solid due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. “A pretty traditional asset class for pension plans may have been in office and retail, but one of the changes that’s happened is [the move to] remote working,” said Barbara Zvan, […]
In considering changes to its retirement savings programs, Rogers Communications Inc. is generally focused on three main internal and external factors: regulatory changes, employee feedback and demographics. “As we see the millennial and gen Z workforce grow quite a bit, we’re really trying to understand what that’s going to do to our plans in terms […]