Employer pension plans (trusteed pension funds), first quarter 2016
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Released: 2016-09-15
The market value of employer-sponsored pension funds declined 1.3% compared with the fourth quarter to $1.6 trillion in the first quarter. This followed a 3.0% gain in the previous quarter.
The value of pension funds held in stocks fell 3.1% in the first quarter, and that of bond holdings decreased 2.2%. Conversely, the value of investments in real estate rose 3.4%, continuing a four-year upward trend.
The value of foreign investments held in Canadian pension funds declined 6.0% in the first quarter, and accounted for one-third of total pension fund assets.
Pension fund revenue fell 35.8% to $33.5 billion in the first quarter. Employer and employee contributions decreased 10.2%, while investment income was down 23.1% and profits from the sale of securities dropped 68.9%.
Expenditures were up 22.2% in the first quarter, mainly because of increased losses from the sale of securities. The rise in expenditures, combined with the decrease in revenue, reduced net income from $29.7 billion in the fourth quarter to $6.1 billion in the first quarter.
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, and 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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