Defined Benefit Plans – CORPaTH

20 11, 2023

Is renewed interest in DB plans real, or just a pipe dream?

CORPaTH2023-11-30T16:52:28-08:00November 20th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: PBGC|

By Brian Croce Source: Pensions & Investments The news around corporate defined benefit plans over the past couple decades has been bleak, with companies expeditiously freezing or terminating plans. But with some help out of Washington, experts say there's an opportunity for employers to reopen plans still on their books or provide their workers with guaranteed income in retirement. "For a sponsor that has a frozen plan that has participants concerned about guaranteed income, you don't necessarily need some [...]

25 08, 2023

Spain: Amendments to the laws on pension plans and collective dismissals

CORPaTH2023-08-25T13:41:42-07:00August 25th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: spain, temp workers|

By Pilar Garcia-Aguilera Source: WTWCO.com Spain boosts access to pension plans to support temporary workers and partial retirees, among others, and adds notice protections for workers facing dismissal due to a workplace closure. Among other things, Law 668/2023 establishes implementing rules on sectoral tax-qualified simplified employment pension plans (planes de pensiones de empleo simplificados – PPESs); entitles temporary workers to participate in tax-qualified pension plans; allows partial retirees to continue to contribute to their plans until full retirement; and [...]

30 06, 2023

Statement by Bea Bruske: Senators vote to put workers and pensioners before big banks and wealthy CEOs

CORPaTH2023-06-30T16:27:27-07:00June 30th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: Bill C-228, canada, pension protection act|

Source: Canadian Labour Congress Bruske: Passage of pension protection Bill C-228 is a win for workers and plan members Canada’s unions are celebrating the Senate’s decision to pass Bill C-228 (Pension Protection Act), legislation that will ensure defined-benefit pensions receive super-priority status in bankruptcy and insolvency cases. “Pension protection has been a priority for Canada’s unions for decades. Multiple private members’ bills seeking to protect pensioners in insolvency proceedings have been defeated but with Bill C-228, our government is [...]

27 04, 2023

Closing Pensions For Public Workers Has Proven A Mistake

CORPaTH2023-05-24T15:18:07-07:00April 27th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: north dakota, public pensions|

By Dan Doonan Source: Forbes A measure to close North Dakota's public pension plan is headed to Governor Doug Burgum's desk for signature. Before enacting the measure, the state’s chief executive would be wise to look at the experience of other states that have made such a drastic move. State leaders have learned the hard way that ending pension benefits comes with little to be gained and a big price to pay. More specifically, states that shifted new employees [...]

24 04, 2023

JP Morgan Analysis Says Corporate Defined Benefit Pension Plans Deserve A Fresh Look

CORPaTH2023-05-24T15:19:37-07:00April 24th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: DB Plans, jp morgan|

By Dan Doonan Source: Forbes Since the Great Resignation in 2021 when employees across industries quit their jobs in large numbers, private sector employers have begun revisiting their benefit offerings to align with current employee preferences. As cited in a recent JP Morgan Asset Management report, “Pension Defrost: Is it Time to reopen DB pension plans- or at least stop closing and freezing them?,” 40 percent of private sector employees who separated from their employer during the Great Resignation [...]

13 04, 2023

Corporate DB plans still hard to beat, JPMAM’s chief of institutional strategy says

CORPaTH2023-04-13T14:10:39-07:00April 13th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|

By Rob Kozlowski Source: Pensions & Investments You're a U.S. corporation, your frozen defined benefit plan is fully funded, and now it's time to get rid of it, right? One expert says perhaps not. U.S. corporate defined benefit plans are healthier than they've been in decades, and companies should think about keeping them so they can take advantage of surplus assets, said Jared Gross, head of institutional portfolio strategy at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, in an interview on Monday. [...]

13 04, 2023

Pension plan finances healthier in Q1

CORPaTH2023-04-13T14:05:05-07:00April 13th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: median solvency ratio|

By James Langton Source: Investment Executive Defined benefit pensions enjoyed improving solvency metrics in the first quarter, despite elevated market volatility and tightening financial conditions, according to new data from consulting firm Mercer. The median solvency ratio for the DB plans in Mercer’s universe rose to 116% in the quarter, up from 113% at the end of 2022. Other measures of pension funding health also indicated improvement in the first quarter, with 83% of plans estimated to be in [...]

11 04, 2023

DB funding remains strong, but transfers remain high risk

CORPaTH2023-05-03T13:50:52-07:00April 11th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: funding ratio|

By Pádraig Floyd Source: Pensions Expert The March 2023 PPF 7800 index estimates the aggregate surplus of the 5,131 schemes it covers to have decreased over the month to £359.3bn as of March 31, from a surplus of £381.4bn at the end of February, a fall of almost 6 per cent. The funding ratio decreased to 133.2 per cent from 137 per cent over the same period. Total assets were £1.44tn and total liabilities were £1.08tn. There were 4,355 (82 per cent) schemes [...]

29 03, 2023

Pension super-priority bill becoming law following Senate vote

CORPaTH2023-03-29T10:49:24-07:00March 29th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: C-228, canada, pension security|

By Gideon Scanlon Source: Benefits Canada A bill that provides super-priority to defined benefit pension plan members during plan windups or employer bankruptcies has been passed by the Senate and will become law. “Now that C-228 has passed, it is up to the government to schedule it for royal assent and then to incorporate it into the [Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act] and [the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act],” said Mike Powell, president of the Canadian Federation of Pensioners, an organization [...]

10 03, 2023

DB Pensions Are Financially Advantageous for Employers: JP Morgan Exec

CORPaTH2023-03-10T16:50:13-08:00March 10th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: db pensions, JP Morgan Asset Management|

By Justin Mitchell Source: FundFire The following text is a transcript of a portion of a speaker's presentation made at an industry conference or during an interview. This transcript solely represents the view of the individual who spoke, and not the view of FundFire or any other group. JUSTIN MITCHELL, SENIOR REPORTER, FUNDFIRE: Today we are speaking to Jared Gross, the Head of Institutional Portfolio Strategy for JP Morgan Asset Management. You wrote a recent paper where you made [...]

10 03, 2023

Alaska Bill Seeks to Revive Defined Benefit Pension

CORPaTH2023-03-13T11:54:15-07:00March 10th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: alaska, alaska senate bill 88|

Source: Chief Investment Officer State senators in Alaska have introduced a bipartisan bill that would create a new defined benefit pension system for state employees as a way help address a nearly 20% vacancy rate for state jobs. Alaska’s previous defined benefit retirement system was abolished by state legislators in 2006 and replaced with a defined contribution plan. Senate Bill 88 would restore a defined benefit plan for new workers and allow current employees to choose between the new [...]

16 02, 2023

Ontario’s pension plans remained resilient despite challenges

CORPaTH2023-02-16T10:18:11-08:00February 16th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: canada, Ontario|

By Steve Randall Source: Wealth Professional Ontarians can feel confident that their pension plans weathered the economic storms of 2022 with resilience according to a provincial regulator. The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario's (FSRA) says that most pension plans in Ontario managed to navigate the economic challenges and market volatility to remain strong. Today (Feb. 16) the regulator is holding its first ever Pension Awareness Day to get people thinking more about retirement savings and engage with employers and unions [...]

16 02, 2023

Study finds U.S. public pension plans’ average funding ratio reached 77.8% in 2022

CORPaTH2023-02-16T09:56:28-08:00February 16th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: funding ratio, pension revenue|

Source: Benefits Canada The average funding ratio for U.S. public pension plans increased to 77.8 per cent in 2022 with the majority (68 per cent) of pensions’ revenue coming from investment returns, according to a new survey by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems. The 12th annual public retirement systems study received responses from 195 state and local government pension funds, which represent more than 19.6 million active and retired members with combined assets exceeding $3 trillion. Across these [...]

18 01, 2023

Pensions Recruit and Retain Public Employees

CORPaTH2023-01-18T14:18:41-08:00January 18th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: public employees, public pension|

Source: National Public Pension Coalition Did you know that state and local governments are facing staffing shortages of historic proportions that are significantly impacting communities across the country? One tool proven to help combat shortages and draw in potential employees is defined-benefit pensions! In fact, over 75% of Americans agree that providing a pension plan to public employees is an essential tool in the recruitment and retention of teachers and public safety officers, according to the National Institute on [...]

18 01, 2023

Pensions beat flexible working for top spot in employee benefits ranking

CORPaTH2023-01-18T14:16:32-08:00January 18th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, pensions|

By Sophie Smith Source: Pensions Age Pensions have topped the list of employee benefits HR teams say people value the most, having regained the position two years after flexible working took the top spot in Punter Southall Aspire’s annual survey, although concerns around the advice gap remain. The research, which was carried out with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), found that 900 out of 1,700 HR professionals ranked pensions as the most valued employee benefit amongst [...]

16 01, 2023

Pensionomics 2023: Measuring the Economic Impact of Defined Benefit Pension Expenditures

CORPaTH2023-01-16T09:41:21-08:00January 16th, 2023|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: Pensionomics 2023|

By Dan Doonan, Ilana Boivie and Tyler Bond Source: National Institute on Retirement Security Economic gains attributable to private and public sector defined benefit pensions in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic were substantial, according to Pensionomics 2023: Measuring the Economic Impact of Defined Benefit Pension Expenditures. This report calculates the national economic impacts of U.S pension plans, as well as the impact of state and local plans on a state-by-state basis. This report finds that retiree spending of public and [...]

7 11, 2022

Germany’s pension system will collapse without reform, influential lobby group says

CORPaTH2022-11-07T11:21:58-08:00November 7th, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: germany, pension system|

By Hannah Ward-Glenton Source: CNBC Germany’s pension system won’t be financially viable in five years’ time without reform, according to Rainer Dulger, the president of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations. The influential lobby group represents around 20 million employees in the German workforce. Dulger told Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper Sunday that the German economy is weakening and the social system is on “the verge of collapse.” “The costs will explode,” he said, according to a translation by CNBC. [...]

7 11, 2022

UK to reveal stealth tax raid on pensions later this month

CORPaTH2022-11-07T11:20:07-08:00November 7th, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: tax raid, uk|

Source: Reuters British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and finance minister Jeremy Hunt plan to reveal a stealth tax raid on pensions later this month, The Telegraph reported on Friday. The pension lifetime allowance is set to be frozen for two more years, with a rise in line with prices delayed from 2025 to 2027, the newspaper said, without citing sources. The allowance level has risen with prices in the past, but Sunak, as the finance minister last year, froze [...]

4 11, 2022

UFCW Union Pension Trustees Demand Albertsons Delay $4B Dividend Pending Fulfillment of Pension Obligations

CORPaTH2022-11-04T11:10:09-07:00November 4th, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: albertsons, arpa, dividend payment, kroger|

Source: Business Wire Pension Trustees representing United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Locals 5, 8, 480 and 648 in Northern California and Hawaii demand Albertsons delay an anticipated $4 billion dividend to shareholders. “The UFCW played a significant role in securing billions of dollars in anticipated pension funding through the American Rescue Plan Act as a means to bolster qualifying pension plans. This government support of retirement security must not be converted into a windfall for shareholders at the [...]

20 10, 2022

Amendments to insolvency legislation would secure DB pensions, say retiree organizations

CORPaTH2022-10-20T15:20:46-07:00October 20th, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, canada|

Source: Benefits Canada Six organizations representing Canadian retirees say proposed amendments to the federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act would have a positive impact on defined benefit pension plan members. In an open letter to the House of Commons standing committee on finance, the six organizations —CanAge, the Canadian Federation of Pensioners, the Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse, CARP, the National Pensioners Federation and the Réseau FADOQ — said federal insolvency and pension laws currently favour the [...]

20 10, 2022

How Pension Plans Evolved Out of the Great Financial Crisis

CORPaTH2022-10-20T15:14:18-07:00October 20th, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: Public pension funds|

Source: AI-CIO.com Public pension funds were not spared from the carnage of the Great Financial Crisis, as assets and funding statuses eroded between December 2007 and June 2009. From 2009-2013, there was a significant dip in the aggregate percentage of required contributions paid. When the economy recovered, states and other plan sponsors normalized their contribution levels. A recent webinar held by the National Institute on Retirement Security, in conjunction with consulting firm Segal and Lazard Asset Management, reviewed the [...]

27 09, 2022

New survey shows great support for a ‘defined benefit’ retirement plan, not for a ‘defined contribution’ plan

CORPaTH2022-09-27T10:54:00-07:00September 27th, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: north dakota|

By Dave Thompson Source: Prairie Public Newsroom The union representing public employees in North Dakota says a new survey from the state’s Human Resources Management Services shows strong support for a defined benefit retirement plan. That’s the plan state employees have now. An interim Legislative Committee is looking at closing that plan to new state employees, and going to a “defined contribution” plan for new hires in 2024. The survey shows 42 percent of respondents strongly agree with the [...]

23 09, 2022

A Sneaky Form of Climate Obstruction Hurts Pension Funds

CORPaTH2022-09-23T16:18:30-07:00September 23rd, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: climate obstruction|

By Tobias Read Source: The New York Times In several Republican-led states, the officials who oversee pension funds for millions of state workers are being told, or may soon be told, to ignore the financial risks associated with a warming world. There’s something distinctly anti-free market about policymakers limiting investment professionals’ choices — and it’s putting the retirement savings of millions at risk. The Texas comptroller, Glenn Hegar, recently announced that 10 financial firms and 348 funds could be [...]

16 08, 2022

Defined Benefit Plans May Have New Life

CORPaTH2022-08-16T08:48:31-07:00August 16th, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: arpa, hybrid pension plan|

By Noah Zuss Source: Plan Sponsor Defined benefit plans, the dinosaurs of the retirement world, may once again roam the private-sector benefits landscape, according to retirement industry veterans with pension actuarial expertise. For plan sponsors with a frozen defined benefit plan, it could be a good time to consider unfreezing, says Zorast Wadia, principal and consulting actuary, Milliman. Regulatory relief from Congress in the American Rescue Plan Act, economic and labor market conditions, hybrid pension plan designs and the [...]

8 07, 2022

Segal Marco acquires Milliman’s San Francisco investment consulting practice

CORPaTH2022-07-08T11:29:22-07:00July 8th, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: milliman, Segal Marco Advisors|

By Palash Ghosh Source: Pensions & Investments Investment consultant Segal Marco Advisors acquired Milliman's San Francisco investment consulting practice. The transaction marks Segal Marco's third acquisition, the firm said in a news release Thursday. The acquisition increases Segal Marco's "footprint in the public sector and adds additional endowments and foundations to its client roster as the firm continues to grow across various lines of business," the news release said. Read the full article

3 05, 2022

Could raising rates be THE antidote?

CORPaTH2022-05-03T15:44:46-07:00May 3rd, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: raising rates|

By Russ Kamp Source: Kamp Consulting Blog As everyone knows, corporate defined benefit (DB) plans have been disappearing like the dinosaur. However, rising US interest rates following a 39-year bond bull market might just prove to be the antidote needed to stem this tide. Milliman’s 2022 Pension Funding Study is out, and as usual, it provides a great overview of the top 100 corporate plans (ranked by plan assets). Corporate funding has improved dramatically in the last several years [...]

5 04, 2022

Average Dutch pension funding ratio reaches 10-year high

CORPaTH2022-04-05T09:23:25-07:00April 5th, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: dutch pensions|

By Sophie Smith Source: European Pensions The average funding ratio for Dutch pension funds increased from 114 per cent to 120 per cent in March, the highest level in more than 10 years, according to analysis from Aon. The provider's Pension Thermometer revealed that equities and commodities had also risen sharply over the past month, despite global tensions and uncertainty, which compensated for the decline in fixed income portfolios. In addition to this, Aon flagged that interest rates rose [...]

1 03, 2022

U.S. Pension Funds Scramble to Figure Out What to Do With Russian Investments

CORPaTH2022-03-01T12:37:34-08:00March 1st, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: russia, russian investments|

Source: AI-CIO.com The pressure to divest from Russian investments is everywhere. Both from an environmental, social and governance perspective and a financially prudent one, Russian assets are extremely high risk right now. But many of the United States’ largest pension funds still have assets in the country, making them vulnerable to even further financial downturn as the war with Ukraine wages on. Moscow’s stock market is already amidst one of its worst crashes in history. The Russian Trade Index [...]

18 02, 2022

Majority of Ontario’s DB pension plans more than fully funded

CORPaTH2022-02-18T13:10:52-08:00February 18th, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: canada, Ontario, pension funding|

Source: Benefits Canada The average Ontario defined benefit pension plan is in the best funded position since December 2009, according to the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario’s latest quarterly solvency report. It found 81 per cent DB plans had a solvency ratio greater than 100 per cent at the end of 2021, compared to 67 per cent at the end of the third quarter of 2021 and 45 per cent in the last quarter of 2020. In addition, [...]

7 02, 2022

City of San Diego Will Retroactively Replace Thousands of Employees’ DC Plans With Pensions

CORPaTH2022-02-07T15:57:10-08:00February 7th, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: DB Plans, san diego|

By Anna Gordon Source: AI-CIO.com The city of San Diego will be offering retroactive defined benefit (DB) pension plans to thousands of city employees who were previously only offered defined contribution (DC) 401(k)-style plans. The decision comes after the California Supreme Court overturned 2012’s Proposition B, a law that was passed after being voted on by the public. Proposition B shifted all city employees except police officers away from pensions to DC plans. The law was in effect from [...]

4 02, 2022

Typical DB pension scheme can fund 98.4% of benefits in ‘new high’

CORPaTH2022-02-04T11:57:15-08:00February 4th, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: db schemes, pension funding, Pension Health, uk|

By Jack Gray Source: Pensions Age The health of defined benefit (DB) schemes in the UK reached a “new high” in Q4 2021, with the typical scheme expected to be able to fund 98.4 per cent of accrued pension benefits, according to Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM). The typical scheme being able to fund 98.4 per cent of accrued benefits, as at 31 December 2021, was 0.1 percentage points higher than the 98.3 per cent figure recorded at [...]

20 01, 2022

Pension plans cheaper overall than 401(k)s, researchers find

CORPaTH2022-01-20T10:47:21-08:00January 20th, 2022|Categories: 401(k), Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: 401(k), DB Plans|

By Emile Hallez Source: Investment News A pension research group has a message for employers: The switch from defined-benefit plans to 401(k)s has made retirement saving more expensive. That conclusion takes into account the costs borne by both employers and employees. Switching to a defined-contribution plan can of course save companies money, but the overall cost of the benefit increases, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security. The nonprofit this month published its third iteration of a paper [...]

12 01, 2022

After years of recovery, corporate plans near full funding

CORPaTH2022-01-12T15:47:41-08:00January 12th, 2022|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: corporate defined benefit plans|

By Rob Kozlowski Source: Pensions & Investments The funded status of U.S. corporate defined benefit plans has improved to levels not seen since before the financial crisis over a decade ago, better positioning their sponsors to execute risk mitigation strategies. Estimates from multiple investment consultants and money managers show the aggregate funding ratio for U.S. corporate DB plans exceeded 95% as of Dec. 31, the best showing since before the financial crisis of 2008. Read the full article

15 11, 2021

Better pensions for California transit workers? Biden administration targets state law

CORPaTH2021-11-15T12:33:54-08:00November 15th, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: california transit workers, dept of labor|

By Wes Venteicher Source: The Sacramento Bee Public transit workers in California briefly benefited when the U.S. Labor Department challenged former Gov. Jerry Brown’s pension reform law eight years ago. They got to keep more generous retirement benefits for two years longer than other California public employees after the Obama administration’s Labor Department found Brown’s 2013 pension law ran afoul of federal protections. Read the full article

29 10, 2021

RBC: Canadian pension returns up slightly in Q3

CORPaTH2021-10-29T16:56:14-07:00October 29th, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: canada, pension returns|

By Rob Kozlowski Source: Pensions & Investments Canadian corporate and public pension plans in the RBC Investor & Treasury Services universe saw a median gross return of 0.6% in the three months ended Sept. 30. A news release Friday said the nearly-flat median return was because of a negative market environment in September that counteracted the positive returns in July and August. Canadian equities returned a median gross 1.5%, while the S&P/TSX Composite index returned 0.2% for the quarter. [...]

25 10, 2021

How Do Pension Funds Work?

CORPaTH2021-10-25T10:16:46-07:00October 25th, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: Public-Sector Pensions|

By Eric Whiteside Source: Investopedia For some years now, traditional pension plans, also known as pension funds, have been gradually disappearing from the private sector. Today, public sector employees, such as government workers, are the largest group with active and growing pension funds. How Pension Funds Work The most common type of traditional pension is a defined-benefit plan. After employees retire, they receive monthly benefits from the plan, based on a percentage of their average salary over their last [...]

21 10, 2021

Three reasons why pensions are portable

CORPaTH2021-10-21T15:53:11-07:00October 21st, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: portable pensions|

By Tristan Fitzpatrick Source: NPPC One of the biggest misunderstandings about public pensions is that if one leaves public service before they retire, then they cannot take their pension benefits with them. This belief is usually mentioned by those who say defined-contribution accounts like 401(k)s are somehow more “portable” than defined-benefit pensions. However, the truth is that public pensions are, in fact, reasonably portable. Here are three reasons why pensions offer a large amount of portability. 1. All plans [...]

19 07, 2021

5 key questions on pensions

CORPaTH2021-07-19T13:53:05-07:00July 19th, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: canada|

By: Jeffrey R. Smith Source: HR Reporter Employer-sponsored pension plans have shifted some of the responsibility for retirement saving to employees, but a supportive plan can be a good tool for recruitment and retention. Canadian HR Reporter spoke about pension plan strategies with Som Seif, founder and CEO of Purpose Investments in Toronto, which recently launched the Longevity Pension Fund. Q: How has an aging workforce affected employers’ approach to pension plans? A: “It’s one of the biggest social [...]

7 07, 2021

Canadian DB pensions see improved funded position, investment returns

CORPaTH2021-07-07T09:03:28-07:00July 7th, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: canada, pension funding|

Source: Benefits Canada The aggregate funded ratio for Canadian defined benefit pension plans in the S&P/TSX composite index increased from 94.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 to 95.6 per cent in the second quarter, according to a new report from Aon. It also found pension assets rose by four per cent during the same period. The rise was credited to positive returns on fixed income assets and continued strong equity market performance. However, long term Government of [...]

17 06, 2021

Canada’s largest pension funds come together at inaugural climate change event

CORPaTH2021-06-17T16:53:50-07:00June 17th, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans, Sustainable Investing|Tags: canada, sustainable investing|

Source: Benefits Canada Representatives from eight of Canada’s largest pension funds — known as the Maple Eight — participated in the first meeting of the Sustainable Finance Action Council last week. On June 11, representatives of the Alberta Investment Management Corp., the British Columbia Investment Management Corp., the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, the [...]

11 06, 2021

DB Plan Funded Status Remains Stable in May

CORPaTH2021-06-11T14:27:07-07:00June 11th, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: pension funding|

By: Rebecca Moore Source: Plan Sponsor The aggregate funded ratio for U.S. defined benefit (DB) pension plans sponsored by S&P 500 companies increased by an estimated 0.1 percentage point month-over-month in May to end the month at 94.2%, according to Wilshire. The monthly change in funding resulted from a 0.6 percentage point increase in asset values partially offset by a 0.7 percentage point increase in liability values. The aggregate funded ratio is estimated to have increased by 6.4 and [...]

19 05, 2021

We loved our pensions. Then our employers took them away. How was that allowed to happen?

CORPaTH2021-05-19T08:31:10-07:00May 19th, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|

By Nicholas Goldberg Source: Los Angeles Times In a recent column in the New York Times, Paul Krugman argued that if President Biden succeeds in giving Americans affordable childcare, universal pre-K and paid family leave, it will be almost impossible to take them back. People would never allow such desirable, transformational benefits to be taken away once they had become part of the fabric of our society, he wrote. Officials wouldn’t dare try because the backlash would be too [...]

12 05, 2021

F.B.I. Asking Questions After a Pension Fund Aimed High and Fell Short

CORPaTH2021-05-13T08:05:27-07:00May 12th, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: FBI, Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System|

By Mary Williams Walsh Source: The New York Times The search for high returns takes many pension funds far and wide, but the Pennsylvania teachers’ fund went farther than most. It invested in trailer park chains, pistachio farms, pay phone systems for prison inmates — and, in a particularly bizarre twist, loans to Kurds trying to carve out their own homeland in northern Iraq. Now the F.B.I. is on the case, investigating investment practices at the Pennsylvania Public School [...]

3 05, 2021

72% of Canadian pension funds considering consolidation options: survey

CORPaTH2021-05-13T08:05:25-07:00May 3rd, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: canada, consolidation|

Source: Benefits Canada The majority (72 per cent) of Canadian pension funds said they’re currently focused on consolidation options that offer greater certainty they’ll be able to meet their liabilities, according to a survey by CIBC Mellon. It also found 50 per cent of pension funds surveyed plan on implementing consolidation plans over the next three to five years. The same percentage (50 per cent) of respondents that said they’re considering merging other funds’ assets into their owns plans [...]

23 04, 2021

Borderless Pension Plans

CORPaTH2021-05-13T08:05:24-07:00April 23rd, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: pension gap|

By Michael Brough Source: HR Daily Advisor As organizations become more global, HR leaders face the challenge of how best to reward and protect certain groups of their international staff. Pensions and savings benefits are often tightly bound by local rules and restrictions that can exclude some workers or render the benefits unattractive or insecure. One option is to look at the increasingly popular “borderless” or international pension plans that exist outside of domestic frameworks. When the first Willis [...]

23 04, 2021

DB plan solvency in best position since financial crisis: FSRA

CORPaTH2021-05-13T08:05:24-07:00April 23rd, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: canada, Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, Ontario|

By James Langton Source: Advisor's Edge In the first quarter of 2021, the funding status of defined-benefit (DB) pensions in Ontario surged to its best level since the financial crisis. The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA) reported that the median solvency ratio for the province’s DB pensions rose to 103% (as of March 31), up from just 85% in March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic began. In the first quarter, the median solvency ratio rose from 98% [...]

7 04, 2021

UK universities propose cutting benefits to save pension scheme

CORPaTH2021-04-07T16:22:15-07:00April 7th, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: pension cuts, uk|

By Bethan Staton and Josephine Cumbo Source: Financial Times Hundreds of thousands of university sector staff in the UK would see their retirement benefits cut under employer proposals to avert “unaffordable” rises in contributions as the sector struggles with a years-long pensions crisis. Plans outlined on Wednesday by Universities UK, which represents more than 340 higher education sector employers, would see guaranteed pensions for about 200,000 of the 460,000 members become less generous, with higher-earning academics taking the biggest [...]

7 04, 2021

Strengthening markets affect contributions

CORPaTH2021-04-07T10:16:19-07:00April 7th, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: contributions|

By Rob Kozlowski Source: Pensions & Investments U.S. corporate pension plans continue to lower their pension contributions as a strong market and accelerated pension contributions in the past have kept funding levels healthy despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. corporations plan to contribute a total of slightly less than $15 billion to their global pension plans in 2021, according to Pensions & Investments' analysis of S&P 500 companies that announced contributions of at least $100 million. The [...]

2 04, 2021

Canadian pension plans register big funding boost in Q1

CORPaTH2021-04-02T09:06:43-07:00April 2nd, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: canada|

By Rob Koslowski Source: Pensions & Investments The aggregate funding ratio of Canadian pension plans rose to 94.8% as of March 30 from 89.4% three months earlier, according to a survey from Aon. The overall funding deficit was about $21 billion. Overall pension assets lost about 2.3% in value over the quarter ended March 30 due to negative returns on fixed income that were partially offset by strong equity gains, according to a news release Wednesday announcing the survey. [...]

1 04, 2021

Canada’s DB pension plans continue to improve in 2021

CORPaTH2021-04-01T14:47:30-07:00April 1st, 2021|Categories: Defined Benefit Plans|Tags: canada|

By Steve Randall Source: Wealth Professional Good news for Canada’s retirement savers, pension funds are continuing to improve their financial health in the first three months of 2021. The aggregate funded ratio for Canadian defined benefit pension plans in the S&P/TSX Composite Index increased from 89.4% to 94.8% in the first quarter according to the Aon Pension Risk Tracker. The strong performance of Canadian stocks helped bolster the position of pension funds, partially offsetting negative returns on fixed income assets, [...]