The Canadian Model
for Pensions
CAN A HOMEGROWN MODEL FOR PENSION MANAGEMENT CHANGE THE
COURSE OF RETIREMENT FUNDING AND HR ADMINISTRATION?
Many of Canada’s largest pension funds have gained
much success and adoration on the global financial
stage. Not so far in the past, Canadian public pen-sions
were relatively conservative investment vehicles
focusing mainly on investments such as government bonds, and
were funded on a “pay-as-you-go” basis. There was little by way
of independent governance and the funds were administered
in an “outdated fashion,” according to a new report entitled The
Evolution of the Canadian Pensions by the World Bank Group.
According to the report: “The same organizations that today
are regarded as global leaders had little to no independent gov-ernance
lacked investment diversification, operated under strict
investment limits, suffered from significant administrative errors
and poor member service and were considerably smaller in terms
of assets under management.”
Since the 1990s, however, a Canadian “model” for pension gov-ernance
and investing has emerged and was the focus of the report,
and a subsequent panel hosted by the Canadian Club in Toronto
By Joel Kranc
kan_chana / Shutterstock.com
benefits
HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA ❚ DECEMBER 2017 ❚ 29
/HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA
