Pension Funds In Canada Now Managing More Than $1 Trillion, Says Greenwich Associates

Assets under management by Canadian pension funds topped the $1 trillion mark for the first time in 2006, and Greenwich Associates’ 2006 Canadian Investment Management Research Study claims that strong investment returns have helped Canadian pension plan sponsors maintain funding ratios at a relatively robust 97% for the past two years. Funding ratios among Canadian corporate pension plans averaged 99% in 2006, and public and provincial plans averaged 100% funded. “It is only among the Canadian subsidiaries of U.S. companies that average funding rates drop to 92%,” said Greenwich Associates’ Toronto-based consultant, Lea Hansen, in a press release. While 22% of Canadian DB plans have been closed to new employees, the proportion of Canadian plan sponsors expecting to close their plans in the next two to three years declined over the past 12 months, to 2% in 2006 from 3% in 2005.