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Employer pension plans (trusteed pension funds), second quarter 2016

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Released: 2016-12-13

The market value of employer-sponsored pension funds grew 1.8% in the second quarter to $1.7 trillion, following a 1.3% decline in the first quarter.

The value of pension fund assets held in mortgages increased 5.2%, while the value of bonds grew 3.1%. Investments in stocks edged up 0.4%.

Foreign investments held in Canadian pension funds increased 1.0% in value in the second quarter, following a 6.0% decline in the first quarter. Foreign investments accounted for just under one-third of the total pension fund assets.

Pension fund revenue increased by 55.4% in the second quarter compared with a 35.8% decline in the first quarter. Pension fund managers reported gains in employer and employee contributions (+12.7%), investment income (+19.8%) as well as a notable 191.0% increase in profits from the sale of stock market securities.

Expenditures fell 16.9%, mainly because of reduced losses from the sale of securities. Combined with the increase in revenue, the decline in expenditures led to a gain in net income, which rose from $6.0 billion in the first quarter to $29.2 billion in the second 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

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).

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