Pension Pulse

PSP Investments just announced  Patrick Charbonneau will be the next CIO and Yannick Beaudoin will replace him as President and CEO of the Canada Growth Fund Investment Management: Montréal, Québec (January 23, 2025) – The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) today announced the appointment of Patrick Charbonneau to the role of Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of PSP Investments and Yannick Beaudoin as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Canada Growth Fund Investment Management (CGFIM), effective February 3, 2025.   “The appointment of Patrick Charbonneau as CIO reflects our ongoing commitment to strategic leadership and investment acumen. Patrick is an exceptional leader with a deep understanding of our mission and priorities. His expertise and vision will strengthen PSP’s ability to deliver long-term value for our beneficiaries and advance our strategic o...

Bert Clark, president and CEO of IMCO, wrote a comment on LinkedIn on whether beating the market be the primary focus of most investors: 2024 was a tough year for investors trying to “beat the market.” US indexes have come to be dominated by a small number of stocks – the so-called “Magnificent 7” (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Tesla). At the start of 2024, these stocks made up around 28% of the S&P 500, already reflecting a high level of concentration that made the decision of whether to market weight, underweight or overweight these stocks critical for US public equity investors. Overweighting stocks that already dominate the index would have felt odd from a concentration risk perspective. But by the end of 2024, the Magnificent 7 represented 34% of the value of the S&P 500. This is the highest l...

Barbara Shecter of the National Post wrote a comment asking whether the Canadian pension model can survive a new era of politicization: Rachel Reeves, the U.K.’s new chancellor of the exchequer, had a goal in mind when she flew to Toronto last August to meet with the heads of some of Canada’s largest pension funds . “I want British schemes to learn lessons from the Canadian model and fire up the U.K. economy, which would deliver better returns for savers and unlock billions of pounds of investment,” Reeves told U.S. investors in New York on the first leg of her trip, according to the Financial Times. Reeves had at least half of the equation right. The informal group of large institutional investors known as the Maple 8, which includes the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, has been envied globally over the past decade-plus for their ability to earn world-class returns through a diverse blend of investment strategies. But the group’s ...

Hakyung Kim and Lisa Kalai Han of CNBC report Dow surges more than 300 points, S&P 500 posts best week since period following Trump's election: Stocks climbed Friday, as the three major averages posted their first weekly gain of the new year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 334.70 points, or 0.78%, to end at 43,487.83. The S&P 500 gained 1% to 5,996.66, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.51% to 19,630.20. Big tech stocks were higher on the day, with shares of Tesla popping 3%. Chipmaking giant Nvidia jumped 3.1%, while Alphabet shares added more than 1%. For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 advanced 3.7% and 2.9%, respectively. Both indexes posted their biggest weekly advance since the week of the U.S. presidential election in November. The Nasdaq climbed 2.5% week to date for its best one-week performance since early December. Those gains come after investors received back-to-back reports showing inflationary pressures softening somewhat. The core consumer ...

Mark Johnson wrote a comment for the Hub stating Canada’s public pension funds may be a global success story, but political storm clouds are gathering: They are the demigods of our corporate world. They manage over $2 trillion of our retirement money, with investments and influence that span the globe. But they’re starting to attract political attention. And with that comes debate. Bestriding our financial community, the eight largest public pension funds in Canada are known by the adulatory nickname “the Maple Eight.” Among them are AIMCo, BCI, CPP Investment Board, OMERS, and PSP. These pension funds are touted as shining examples of well-run and high-performing pension funds and are often held up as models for other countries. Recently, the U.K.’s chancellor of the exchequer made a special trip to Toronto to study the Canadian model of pension governance and pitch them on more investment in her homeland. Known for the “Canadian Model” of fund gove...