Employer pension plans (trusteed pension funds), second quarter 2015
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Released: 2015-12-09
The market value of Canadian employer-sponsored pension funds totalled $1.6 trillion at the end of the second quarter, down 1.0% from the first quarter. This was the first decline since the second quarter of 2013.
Pension fund investments in stocks fell 1.5% in the second quarter. The value of bond holdings decreased 2.1%, while investments in real estate assets grew 0.9%.
The value of foreign investments held in Canadian pension funds increased 0.6% in the second quarter. Foreign investments accounted for 34.6% of total pension fund assets.
Pension fund revenues fell 6.7% to $44.4 billion in the second quarter, largely because of a 23.9% decrease in profits from the sale of securities.
Expenditures rose 15.7% in the second quarter, which, combined with the decrease in revenues, led to a 21.4% decline in net income to $22.5 billion.
Over 6.2 million Canadian workers are members of employer-sponsored pension plans. Of this group, 5.2 million (83.3%) workers belong to pension plans with assets managed by trusteed funds. The remaining members have assets managed by insurance company contracts.
Note to readers
For the purposes of this survey, trusteed pension funds include the assets of one or more registered pension plans: those held under a trust agreement, those held by a pension corporation or pension fund society, those administered under legislation of the Government of Canada, or government of a province of Canada as well as those held by an insurance company for investment management only.
Excluded from the survey are pension funds held in total under an annuity insurance contract.
Contact information
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