Canadian employer pension plan assets continued to climb in 2016, albeit at a slower rate than in 2015, according to data published on Thursday from Statistics Canada.
The market value of Canadian trusteed pension funds totalled $1.7trillion at the end of the fourth quarter (Q4) of2016, which was up 0.4% from the previous quarter. On an annual basis, pension asset growth slowed from 8.5% in 2015 to 4.8% in 2016.
In Q4 2016, pension funds’ equity holdings grew by 4.4%, but the value of their bond holdings declined by 3.5%. The value of their mortgage investments surged by 13.4% in the quarter, although they only account for 1.2% of total pension fund assets.
The national statistical agency also reports that pension fund revenue increased by 24.4% to $56.7 billion in Q4 2016, and expenditures grew by 10.5% to $ 22.4 billion, mainly due to year-end increases in administration costs and losses from the sale of securities. As a result, net income rose to $34.3 billion in Q4, up from $25.3 billion in Q3.
Pension fund managers reported that investment income increased by 59.3% during the year, StatsCan says, employer and employee contributions rose by 15.9%, and profits from the sale of securities gained 12.6%.