Pension Pulse

James Bradshaw of the Globe and Mail reports  B.C. pension manager BCI gains 6.7% and puts money to work in private markets facing pressure: British Columbia Investment Management Corp. made a record $35.7-billion of new investments in private assets last fiscal year, leaning into market turmoil that has strained companies’ valuations and debts. Victoria-based BCI earned a 6.7-per-cent return on its investments in the fiscal year that ended March 31. That fell short of its internal benchmark of 7.6 per cent. The pension fund’s performance largely tracked the same themes that shaped annual results from other large Canadian pension investors . Stocks produced strong gains, private assets underperformed and benchmarks were hard to meet because they are heavily tilted toward the largest U.S. technology companies that have soared in value. But BCI treated a tough year in private markets as an opportunity to buy assets at a discount as inflation, tariffs and wars slowed dea...

Earlier today, CAAT Pension Plan issued a press release on nine key findings that reveal gaps between Canadians’ retirement expectations and reality:  TORONTO, June 18, 2026 – Most Canadians expect that they can fund retirement themselves. Retirees tell a different story. A new study uncovers a striking disconnect between what Canadians expect their retirement to look like and what’s actually happening on the ground: One in four working Canadians expect personal savings to be a primary source of retirement income, but only 15% of retirees actually report using it as a primary source of retirement income Retirees are far more likely to rely on public programs and workplace pensions (with 58% primarily relying on CPP/OAS) Defined benefit pension income accounts for 48% of retirement income (for those with a pension) These findings are part of a new CAAT insight brief, Nine Realities of Canadian Retirement opens in a new tab , which explores how Canadians think about retirem...

Josh Welsh of Benefits and Pensions Monitor reports Canada’s largest pension fund invests $1B in Indian data centre partnership: CPP Investments has entered a strategic partnership with CtrlS Datacenters Ltd., committing up to C$1 billion to expand digital infrastructure in India, according to the fund’s press release on Wednesday. The deal includes a direct equity stake and a joint venture to develop hyperscale data centre campuses across the country. Under the terms of the partnership, CPP will invest C$588 million to acquire an 8.2 per cent stake in CtrlS, which operates a data centre platform with contracted capacity, long-term custom...

James Bradshaw of the Globe and Mail reports the public-sector pension board earned 6.5% last year after boosting Canadian holdings: The Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its investments in Canadian stocks and some infrastructure assets to help guard against inflation as the fund earned a 6.5-per-cent return in a volatile year for markets. PSP’s private-asset investments in real estate, credit and private equity struggled in its last fiscal year, keeping with a trend that has seen large institutional investors lag behind their benchmark targets even as public stock markets have surged in value. As a result, the fund fell short of its internal benchmark of 13.1 per cent, and a reference portfolio of assets set by the federal government, which earned 11.7 per cent. PSP manages pensions for the federal public service, Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP. As of March 31, when its fiscal year ended, it manages net assets of $320.6-billion, up 7 per cent from the ...