Pension plan assets dipped in Q3 2018

Thanks to declines in the value of both their bond and equity holdings, Canadian pension plans saw assets dip in the third quarter of 2018, Statistics Canada reports.

The national statistical agency said the market value of pension fund assets declined by 0.7% in the third quarter, to just under $1.9 trillion. Pension funds’ bond investments saw the biggest decline, dropping by 3.1% to $591.4 billion. Equity holdings decreased by 0.9% to $569.9 billion.

While pension funds saw their assets decline from the previous quarter, on a year-over-year basis pension assets were up by 7.3% in the third quarter compared with the same quarter in 2017.

StatsCan also reported that pension funds’ revenue declined by 1.3% in the third quarter, with investment income down by 11.3% and contributions lower by 8.5%. At the same time, expenditures increased by 0.5% in the quarter and pension payments ticked up by 0.2%.

Overall, with revenues down and expenditures up, net income declined by 3.5% in the third quarter to $18.4 billion, StatsCan notes.

Staff

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