Description: The investment risk taken by a pension fund comprises strategic risk and active risk. This paper discusses the relative merits of these two types of risk to the pension fund, possible rationales for the levels of strategic and active risk typically adopted mechanisms for capturing manager skill without taking on equity risk, and issues in setting liability-based benchmarks for investment managers

Description: Chairperson’s column discussing the state of the world today and how that influences investment strategies and describes to seminars the section sponsored to keep members apprised of changes.

Description: A survey of available derivatives and a description of how they can be used in pension portfolios is presented. How derivatives can help investment performance, whether derivatives are appropriate for their pension assets, and the special risks associated with derivatives are also examined. From the Record of the Society of Actuaries, Vol. 21, No. 3a.

Description: This article summarizes the focus of the inaugural The Pension Conference which is the difficult investment environment for pension plans and the increased choice and competition that accompany that environment.

Description: This article explains why and how maturing defined benefit pension plans become increasingly unstable if they maintain asset mix policies that embody material mismatch risk between plan assets and liabilities. The implication is that asset depletion is a risk that mature plans should take very seriously. This means redesign should be a priority for pension plans facing this risk. From the Pension Section News, October 2011, Issue No. 75.

Description: As we meet with pension plan sponsors and consultants across Canada we find that the subject of liability-driven investing LDI comes up repeatedly even when we do not initiate the discussion. We also find that LDI seems to mean something different to each person we meet. Is LDI just a new name for asset/liability management ALM? Or is LDI just about hedging interest rate risks with fancy securities? In this article we describe a framework for understanding what LDI is, how it relates to ALM, and how it can be used to solve real-life problems for Canadian pension funds.

Description: This article addresses the role of pension risk management in the context of corporate risk management and how pension risk management strategies might optimally be implemented to increase the probability that pension benefits can be financed from plan assess and that, when and if required, unexpected increases in corporate contributions can be made without financial discomfort to the firm.

Description: 2015 accomplishments of the Investment Section of the Society of Actuaries.

Description: Risks inherent in employee choices of distribution options in terminating plans - A Canadian perspective.

Description: Pension Forecasts, Part One: Some Questions by Lawrence N. Bader from Risks and Rewards Newsletter, February 2001, Issue No. 36.