ARTICLES

Maple 8 envied internationally for diverse portfolios, world-class returns and arms-length government relationships, but third leg at risk.

While it doesn’t contain an exact figure, the federal government’s official rebuttal to a 2023 report — which argued Alberta is entitled to more than half the assets of the Canada Pension Plan — provides a roadmap in the event the province exits the CPP, says Sebastien Betermier, associate professor of finance at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves wants to learn lessons from the ‘Maple 8’ — but they have their own problems

The McGill International Portfolio Challenge (MIPC), wrapped up in November 2024 with another successful edition, drawing in a record of 99 teams from 47 universities in 17 countries to compete. In its eighth year, the event has become a hallmark for aspiring finance students, offering a unique opportunity to tackle real-world financial investment challenges while honing leadership and collaboration skills.

Canadian pension funds have a mandate to deliver steady pension payments to the millions of Canadians they serve. To deliver on this mandate in a cost-efficient way, the funds need to carefully balance the complex risk-return trade-offs of their investments. They do so by maintaining a globally diversified portfolio and by tilting their portfolio towards assets that demonstrate distinct strategic benefits.

To avoid the Canadian pension fund model becoming a victim of its own success, it’s important to understand its history and, in particular, how an independent mandate and in-house management capabilities spurred our pension funds to success – and why this Canadian success story should be left alone by politicians.

“I’m worried about the increased number of political appointments on the board,” said Sebastien Betermier, an associate professor of Finance at McGill University and executive director of the International Centre for Pension Management. “This will potentially undermine the fund’s ability to operate at an arm’s length from government, which is a critical element of the Canadian model.”

The Alberta government named former prime minister Stephen Harper the new chair of AIMCo on Wednesday, less than two weeks after ousting the investment corporation’s board of directors and its chief executive officer.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper has been appointed chairman of the board of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), the provincial government said Wednesday. The Alberta government installed Harper, Canada's 22nd prime minister, as board chair for a three-year term, nearly two weeks after firing all of the provincial investment manager's previous 10 board members, its CEO and three other executives.

The provincial government of Alberta has appointed Stephen J. Harper, the former prime minister of Canada, as the new chair of the board of the C$168.9 billion ($124.5 billion) Alberta Investment Management Corp., Edmonton.

The decision of the Alberta provincial government to fire the board and top executives of the Alberta Investment Management Co., which manages C$160 billion ($115 billion) of assets for public pension and investment funds in Alberta, has left pension executives and academics disturbed, questioning what it could mean for governance of the fund and the Canadian model as a whole.

Calgary Herald business columnist Chris Varcoe and Financial Post journalist Barbara Shecter answer your questions

The Alberta government fired the chief executive and entire board of directors of Alberta Investment Management Co. (AIMCo) last week, citing rising costs without an equivalent increase in returns at the $160 billion investment manager. But were AIMCo’s results and costs out of line with other major Canadian investment managers? The Financial Post’s Naimul Karim explores the question.

When Alberta's public pension manager lost $2.1 billion in a risky bet on market volatility in 2020, little of the scorn or blame fell at the feet of then-premier Jason Kenney or his government.

The provincial government of Alberta, Canada, has terminated the entire board of the C$168.9 billion ($124.5 billion) Alberta Investment Management Corp., Edmonton, citing underperformance issues and rising costs.

The International Centre for Pension Management is celebrating 20 years of promoting strong pension governance practices by regularly engaging plan sponsor members, says Sebastien Betermier, the organization’s executive director.

Jeff Wendling the President and CEO of the Ontario Pension Plan is retiring.

The International Centre for Pension Management, a global network of pension funds, announced on Friday that it is celebrating 20 years since its founding.

Les grands régimes de retraite canadiens investissent-ils suffisamment dans les entreprises cotées en Bourse du pays ?

Canada’s own efforts to get its pension funds involved in nation-building have been more heavily resisted than in Australia, but a new paper has learnings for both countries.

At the start of the century, Barclays Global Investors launched a weird little fund in Canada, a backwater of global finance. Today, its myriad offspring are rewiring swaths of the $130tn bond market.

An increase in the frequency of digital breaches among financial organizations is pushing institutional investors to take the necessary steps to prevent cyberattacks, says Sebastien Betermier, executive director at the International Centre for Pension Management.

Should Canada’s large pension funds follow the path of Quebec’s Caisse de dépôt et placement and demonstrate a greater home bias, or national preference, in their investments?

Rachel reeves, Britain’s new chancellor, says that she has inherited the worst fiscal circumstances since the second world war. An exaggeration, perhaps, but only a small one. To address the squeeze, Ms Reeves will seek the help of Britain’s retirement savings. On July 8th she said that she wants the country’s pension funds “to drive investment in homegrown businesses and deliver greater returns to pension savers”.

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Faut-il que les grands fonds de retraite canadiens, un peu à la manière de la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, démontrent une plus grande préférence nationale dans leurs placements ?

Canadian pension funds face significant losses in real estate, prompting strategy overhauls and diversification

Pension funds are now retooling property divisions after losses

Canadian lawmakers and business leaders criticize the country’s pension funds for not investing more domestically, but doing so could introduce risks, a new paper states.

A new white paper by the International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM) discusses how pension funds can generate productivity gains in the companies they invest in. Their productivity increases between 3% and 5% on average. The key: pension funds, like our clients, have a specific societal position and a long-term horizon.

Firms that are backed by pension fund investments report increases in employee productivity of between three per cent and five per cent, according to a new report by the International Centre for Pension Management.

The ICPM used data from Experian and Statistics Denmark, sampling almost 15,000 companies, of which almost 600 had received capital from pension funds. The organization found that an equity investment from retirement systems improves productivity by between 3 percent and 3.5 percent on average.

New research from the International Centre for Pension Management suggests that direct investments in companies by a pension fund can positively affect the company’s productivity. The findings were released in a white paper titled, “The Four Ways Through Which Pension Funds Increase the Productivity of Firms They Invest In.”

Although it is unclear how the federal government could mandate provincial pension funds to invest more in local companies without overstepping provincial governments’ authority, any directive could jeopardize the funds’ returns and ultimately people’s pensions, said Sebastien Betermier, an associate professor of finance at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University.

The productivity of the firms that pension funds invest in increased by, on average, 3-5 per cent, according to a report by the International Centre for Pensions Management (ICPM).

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Make it less painful and go in prepared.

Canada's largest bank has reversed course on a policy to disclose how much it invests in green energy versus fossil fuel energy following demands from New York City's large public pension funds, with environmental groups welcoming the move but pointing out it doesn't actually reduce carbon emissions yet.

2023 was a record year for ETF delistings, more than triple the next-highest year

Signals that Ottawa wants more domestic investment from Canadian public pension funds are being amplified by some members of the business community who argue there’s more these large pools of capital can do to boost Canada’s economy.

McGill International Portfolio Challenge 2023 attracts over 80 student teams from 27 countries

What is the key to investing success for allocators? A research paper sketched out four case studies to illuminate how Canadian pension plans deploy capital to supercharge their investments.

There has been much discussion in the pension community about whether or not Alberta’s plan to create its own provincial pension scheme is a sound idea and how it might impact the rest of the country and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).

Canadian pension funds have earned acclaim for their adept use of partnerships, resulting in higher returns and lower fees — a style of investing now recognized as the Maple 8 Canadian Investment Model.

Canadian pension plans are masterful at leveraging partnerships to ink higher returns and lower fees — so much so that their style of investing has its own name.

With imaginative solutions and clearly defined standards, new models of sustainable finance are driving a virtuous circle of green impact and enterprise value.

Higher interest rates one of the factors behind pension funds reducing their exposure

This article provides twelve observations about the Big Nine, how they are organized, how they invest, and suggests what practices should and should not be adopted by individual investors.

CBC News answers questions about how the Canada Pension Plan works and what Alberta could do

BPM turns lens on Canada's top five pensions plans by assets under management

Ninety-six teams from 21 countries took part in the 2022 McGill International Portfolio Challenge

Ontario Teachers was an early booster of corporate governance, the pension fund will write its $95 million investment to zero

Un grand nombre de ménages concentrent la majorité de leur capacité d’investissement dans un seul actif : un bien immobilier.

People on fixed incomes hardest hit by inflation, seniors' rights advocacy group says

The International Centre for Pension Management, a global organization that connects pension leaders across over 40 funds for networking purposes, has appointed Sebastien Betermier as its new executive director.

International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM) – Rob Bauer, professor at the University of Maastricht, wll be stepping down as executive director of ICPM at the end of 2022 and will be succeeded by Sebastien Betermier.

The International Centre for Pension Management is appointing Sebastien Betermier as its next executive director.

Betermier, who is currently an associate professor of finance at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University, will succeed Rob Bauer, professor of finance at the School of Business and Economics at Maastricht University, who’ll be stepping down from the role at the end of 2022.

In April, delegates joined academics, asset managers and a former Canadian Prime Minister at the Chateau Fairmont in Lake Louise, Alta., for the Canadian Investment Review’s 2022 Global Investment Conference.

During the event, almost all of the speakers connected with a central theme: the reasons behind the success of Canada’s largest public pension investment organizations — a group commonly referred to as the Maple 8.

To clarify why these plans have, for the past two decades, been so successful, Sebastien Betermier, an associate professor of finance at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University, outlined his research on a common approach shared by the plans — the Maple model.

The new Sustainable Growth Initiative will provide businesses with 'actionable solutions' for building a more sustainable economy.

McGill University, located in Montreal, has launched the Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI), a new hub dedicated to providing businesses – including manufacturers – with what it calls “actionable solutions” for building a more sustainable economy.

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) is among the initial investors in McGill University’s ‘Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI),’ a new hub dedicated to providing businesses with actionable solutions for building a more sustainable economy.

MONTREAL — McGill University announces the launch of the Sustainable Growth Initiative (SGI), a new hub dedicated to providing businesses, including manufacturing businesses, with actionable solutions for building a more sustainable economy. In collaboration with academia, industry partners and policy makers, the cross-faculty venture will help businesses that aim for profitability while having a positive social and environmental impact achieve sustainable growth.

When Canada was last hit by a major recession in 2008, today’s youngest class of investors were just starting elementary school. Now in their late teens and early 20s, Gen Z could soon face the first prolonged economic downturn of their investor lives.

The gleaming skyscrapers of Toronto’s financial district house some of the movers-and-shakers of global business. Less known is that they also represent the vanguard of a new sustainable finance paradigm that promises to become a catalyst and underwriter of solutions for a better future.

Évaluation des risques climatiques d’une entreprise, mesure des critères environnementaux, sociaux et de gouvernance (ESG) et calcul des émissions carbone d’une entreprise : ces thèmes s’incrustent de plus en plus dans les écoles de gestion au moment où la finance durable s’impose. Le virage est toutefois loin d’être chose faite.

Canadian pension funds are generating value by investing in green urban real estate using a two-pronged strategy, according to a paper on the Social Science Research Network.

The first virtual McGill International Portfolio Competition (MIPC) drew 93 university teams from 18 countries to design portfolio strategies that address the rise of social inequalities and protectionism in the U.K.

A team from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and a solo entry from Bocconi University in Milan each won the coveted $15,000 prize at the end of the competition. McGill professor Sebastien Betermier, the faculty director of the competition, reflects on the factors that set this year’s winners apart from the competition.

This year’s case study focused on the effectiveness of current Dutch pension reforms and the Dutch government’s introduction of Collective Defined Contribution plans, a system in which generations of contributors collectively share investment risks. In this context, students accepted the challenge of designing a sustainable retirement system to address ongoing issues surrounding ultra-low yields.

Originally designed by Sebastien Betermier, an associate professor of finance at the Desautels Faculty of Management, MIPC provides a global platform for experiential learning.

Q&A for the Montreal Gazette, Professor Sebastien Betermier takes a closer look at the terms and metrics related to the funding status of a pension plan. The growth rates and termination costs of a fund, he emphasizes in the piece, largely depend on the type and risk level of assets owned.

Retirement funds are not typical issuers of debt, yet several of Canada's big players have not only sold plenty of conventional bonds, but are increasingly moving to obtain green funding. Capital Monitor looks at the financial realities of why.

A year ago, the world seemed oblivious to signs that a novel virus outbreak in China was a serious, global threat. But one of Wall Street’s biggest but most secretive money machines saw the debacle coming and battened down the hatches.

Jane Street may be little known outside its community — and even there mostly famous for its cultish dedication to a recondite programming language called OCaml. But the company has become one of the world’s largest market-makers, trading more than $17tn worth of securities in 2020.

La pandémie de COVID-19 a révélé bien des failles de nos sociétés, et en particulier de notre modèle économique. La crise climatique, le vieillissement de la population, l’accroissement des inégalités accentuent depuis des années la pression pour changer de perspective. Heureusement, les idées ne manquent pas, les initiatives non plus et, sur ce front, le Québec a peu à envier aux autres. Aujourd’hui : la finance verte, cinquième de six textes.

Every year, the MIPC presents a complex portfolio construction problem that immerses students in an emerging facet of impact investing. Last year’s competition illuminated the complexity of investing in more environmentally sustainable sources of energy. This year presented a fictitious sovereign wealth fund in the UK, the British National Strategic Fund, and asked students to develop an investment strategy and asset allocation framework in the context of the country’s withdrawal from the EU.

The case study featured a unique triple mandate to make the UK more economically independent and equal while generating risk-adjusted returns over the long-term. “We have actually learned of ongoing discussion to launch a real new sovereign wealth fund in the UK that is similar to the BNSF,” shared Betermier. “Now we have a golden opportunity to shape the debate in a time that is especially difficult because of the COVID-19 crisis.”

The McGill International Portfolio Challenge, judged by a team of practitioners that includes representatives from the Canadian pension funds Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, CN Investment Division, CPP Investments, OTPP and PSP Investments, attracted students from 93 teams from 18 countries and asked them to solve a complex portfolio construction problem.

This year, the competition’s fourth, posed the question: How can the finance industry address the rise of social inequalities and protectionist tendencies?

A new study is the first to use real data to do a quantitative analysis of asset allocation strategies and cost structures for hundreds of pension, endowment, and sovereign wealth funds across 11 countries. The results hold valuable lessons not only for financial planners, but also working Canadians dreaming of retirement.

Pressure is on the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) to divest from fossil fuel companies in support of Canada’s transition to a low-carbon economy. Professor Sebastien Betermier comments.

Investment portfolio performance and the degree of liability hedging are key benchmarks for measuring defined benefit plans’ success. On both measures, large Canadian pension plans outperformed their international peers between 2004 and 2018, according to a recently published report.

“The Canadian Pension Fund Model: A Quantitative Portrait” — by Alexander Beath and Chris Flynn from CEM Benchmarking with Sebastien Betermier and Quentin Spehner from the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University.

The Canadian model, revered world over for its supreme pension management, is not low cost despite that being one of its oft-described traits. New research by CEM Benchmarking and McGill University shows that these funds are cost efficient, rather than being low cost.

The Canadian Pension Fund Model: A Quantitative Portrait, looks at the success of the Canadian model and estimates that, by managing a high proportion of assets in-house, Canadian funds reduce costs by approximately one third. However they spend those “savings” on larger internally-managed portfolios; and even though they have less external management, they spend more than their peers on external managers.

Many Canadian funds manage assets in-house, redeploy resources to investment teams and focus on liability hedging.

Canada’s pension funds are beating peers globally in investment performance and are stronger at hedging against liability risks, according to research from McGill University and CEM Benchmarking.

Their success is partly explained by the fact they are more likely to manage their assets in-house, McGill researchers Sebastien Betermier and Quentin Spehner, along with CEM’s Alexander Beath and Chris Flynn, wrote in a July paper. The authors’ findings are based on a study of pensions, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds globally between 2004 and 2018.

Between 2004 and 2018, Canadian pension funds outperformed their international peers both in terms of asset performance and liability hedging, according to a study.

Academic study points to in-house management, concentration on real assets, and indexed liabilities as keys to strength

McGill is inviting university students from across the world to come together to tackle pressing socioeconomic issues faced by asset managers. The students behind the McGill International Portfolio Challenge (MIPC) are working together, under the guidance of Professor Sebastien Betermier, to launch the first virtual rendition of the premier case competition. The world’s largest buy-side finance competition, the MIPC targets innovative portfolio design, institutional asset management, and long-term sustainability in finance.

Ambitious students from a broad range of programs will come together virtually to generate actionable items for the future of long-term, sustainable investing. Diverse, multidisciplinary teams bring a variety of perspectives, creating a holistic approach to solving societal issues. Prize money totalling $50,000 will be distributed to the winning teams.

Canada’s pension funds are beating peers globally in investment performance and are stronger at hedging against liability risks, according to research from McGill University and CEM Benchmarking.

If the surge of interest in stocks by retail investors in North America is a frenzy, then it could be described as a stampede in China.
Individual investors make up a growing percentage of U.S. stock trades and currently account for an estimated 25 per cent. In China, as much as 80 per cent of equity trading is done by retail investors, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). And that number could climb because state-owned media was in stock market cheerleader mode this month.

Professor Sebastien Betermier is the recipient of the Morty Yalovsky Distinguished Teaching Award for Graduate Programs at Desautels, has been teaching Finance and Investment at Desautels since 2010.

So you buy a bond for $100, and then the market crashes, and you decide to sell the bond because you need money or you don’t like the risk or whatever, and you look around at the market carnage and you think “well hmm the market crashed so this bond is no longer worth $100, it’s probably worth $98,” and then you try to sell it, and no one will pay you more than $95 for it. There are two possible explanations.

"It’s all about finding investments that make sense both from a return-seeking perspective and an environmental perspective. The two perspectives are not necessarily incompatible."

The SEC has made it easier for dealers to dabble with basket compositions when creating or redeeming ETF shares. But some, it turns, were already dabbling extensively with cash.

Même si les taux d’intérêt sont actuellement bas, est-ce une bonne idée d’emprunter pour cotiser à son régime enregistré d’épargne-retraite ? Selon deux professeurs en fiscalité et en finances, s’endetter pour préparer son avenir et celui de ses enfants serait tout à fait légitime. Encore faut-il choisir les bons véhicules de placement et être capable de rembourser son prêt dans les délais prescrits.

As today’s young generations take to the streets to voice their concerns about the climate crisis, students are leading the march to sustainability in universities. At McGill, the student-led Desautels Sustainability Network is making great strides through initiatives aiming to increase awareness and effect change within the University. At the recent MIPC, students once again proved that they can take a lead on climate issues by providing viable answers to the complex issues surrounding sustainable investing.

With a focus on the sustainable investment of public pension funds, this year’s McGill International Portfolio Challenge (MIPC) demonstrated students’ ability to realistically solve a key issue facing investors today. The winning team’s strategy proposed a progressive, partial divestment while pursuing investment in diverse green initiatives, according to Professor Sebastien Betermier.

Que de chemin parcouru pour les fonds négociés en Bourse (FNB)! S’ils demeurent encore largement sous leur forme indicielle originale, leur entrée dans l’univers factoriel a donné naissance à la génération des FNB personnalisés. Quelle direction prendront-ils ensuite?

The old system of defined benefits pensions won’t meet the needs of tomorrow’s retirees. Here are three ways we can evolve

Retirement has changed. People are living longer, and lower interest rates make investing for the long-haul harder. Fewer young workers are available to back-fill retirement attrition, and suddenly, today’s retirees are looking at a world unlike that of their parents.

Students from the University of Calgary walked away with a C$25,000 ($18,828) cash prize as the winning team of the second annual McGill International Portfolio Challenge, finding a comprehensive solution to a pension funding problem.

Pour une deuxième année consécutive, des étudiants en finance du monde entier se sont affrontés le mois dernier dans le cadre du McGill International Portfolio Challenge (MIPC). Leur mission : élaborer une stratégie pour remettre sur pied un régime de retraite en bien mauvaise posture.

It is a jarring fact that many U.S. citizens must come to terms with: the number of workers supporting the surge of retiring baby boomers is not enough to pay for all the benefits they are owed. According to Bloomberg, this reality has already become glaringly apparent in states such as Illinois, Kentucky, and New Jersey, where only one third of the money needed to cover retirement benefits of public employees is available. What’s more, recent estimates suggest that Social Security overall will begin to run out of money in 18 years.

Patrimoine. Le mot impressionne. Il paraît inaccessible au commun des mortels qui doit épargner à la petite semaine en vue de sa retraite. Mais rassurez-vous. Si le monde de la finance peut être extrêmement complexe, il est tout à fait possible d’accumuler un petit magot sans se compliquer la vie.

Du sang neuf. Des idées originales. Et si c’était des étudiants qui avaient la réponse aux problèmes quasi insolubles des régimes de retraite ? Des problèmes comme ceux de Vandalia, un État fictif du Midwest américain inventé dans le cadre de la deuxième édition du McGill International Portfolio Challenge (MIPC).

With news that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) became the first pension fund in the world to issue a green bond, thereby facilitating investment in cleaner technologies, Professor Sebastien Betermier comments on the implications, as well as the success of defined benefit (DB) pensions in Canada.

Professional investors, academic experts, and actuaries invite a new group to seek a solution: students.

Finance students from around the world tried their hand at solving a Canadian corporate pension plan investment problem, with representatives from a business college in Montreal walking away with a C$25,000 ($19,500) first prize for their response.

Walk into an investment firm today, and you'll likely find it crowded with analysts poring over documents and investment managers weighing which stocks to add to their portfolios. Chances are, their days are numbered. Soon, computers enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI) will do much of the stock picking, while fund managers merely ensure the machines run the right algorithms.

McGill hosted the world’s first business-school competition focused on the asset allocation of pension funds on Nov. 3 – 4. The inaugural McGill International Portfolio Challenge welcomed 25 finalist student teams from leading institutions around the world.

This weekend, twenty-five student teams from around the world will participate in the final round of the McGill International Portfolio Challenge, the world’s first pension asset allocation competition. The teams will travel to McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management to compete for a first-place cash prize of C$25,000, and additional cash prizes of C$25,000 to be shared amongst other finalist teams – making this one of the largest total cash prizes for any business-school competition in the world.

Sebastien Betermier named as one of Poets&Quants’ 40 Most Outstanding MBA Professors Under 40.

The impact that Sebastien Betermier has on students is undeniable. It’s also remarkably consistent. As a favorite among students, this investment management prof is praised time after time for investing in the academic and professional success of his students.

Recognizing the need to give students real-world experience about asset management, York University this year created a student investment fund.

Préférez-vous les valeurs sous-évaluées, voire délaissées, ou les titres qui croissent plus rapidement que le marché ? Valeur ou croissance ? Vos choix d’investissement trahissent probablement votre âge et votre sexe.