Defined benefit plan sponsors are disappointed with government efforts to deliver pension reform, according to a new survey conducted by RBC Dexia.

“Whether it’s closed door meetings, open letters from pension plan powerhouses or our surveys, Canadian pension plan sponsors are looking for more definitive decisions regarding pension plan reform,” says Scott MacDonald, head, pensions, financial institutions and client service for RBC Dexia.


This is the second RBC Dexia Pension Quick Poll, with the inaugural poll conducted in October 2009.

In RBC Dexia’s inaugural pension quick poll, respondents were vocal about the lack of a consistent approach in aligning the interests of plan members and plan sponsors.

The results of its second poll indicate the perception of progress made by federal and provincial regulators is average at best. A full 92% of respondents rated progress on pension reform “average” or “poor.”

Risk remains most relevant

Through the financial turmoil of 2008 and 2009 and more recently, the sovereign debt crisis, plan sponsors remain focused on the many different types of risk they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Plan sponsors were asked to indicate how the recent financial turmoil has changed their risk management focus.

Liquidity risk topped the list with 96% of respondents indicating that this risk was still of high importance or had become even more relevant and important.

Shortfall risk ranked as a close second with 92% identifying this as having the same importance or more importance.

Respondents’ perspectives on interest rate risk and counterparty risk was also significant with 91% and 89%, respectively, identifying these as being important — seemingly, a reflection of their increased use of derivatives to hedge risk.

Balanced approach to asset allocation

With the many different risk factors at play, how have asset allocation strategies changed and are they likely to change for the remainder of the year? Plan sponsors for the most part are satisfied with their positions, with roughly two thirds not making any adjustments to their foreign bonds, domestic equities and foreign equities (68%, 65%, and 67% respectively) allocations. As RBC Dexia’s recent quarterly benchmark survey noted the top performing asset class for Canadian plans was domestic equities, climbing 3.8% in the first quarter and 44.7% over 12 months, making plan sponsor’s asset allocation strategies in line with current market performance.

Interesting to note is 28% of plans with over $1 billion in assets will likely change allocations to “other” assets, with the most frequently quoted classes expected to increase, primarily including: real estate, infrastructure, private equity, and more generally, alternatives. This is compared to the 14% of overall respondents who will increase their allocation to this sector.

Priorities unchanged for plan sponsors

Respondents’ priorities have changed very little in the last six months. When asked to rank the single biggest challenge facing pension plans over the next year, matching liabilities with assets and low returns were still the two most dominant challenges (43% and 35% respectively) decreasing only slightly (48% and 38%) from October 2009.

Methodology

In May 2010, RBC Dexia Investor Services surveyed Canadian pension plan sponsors from coast to coast. 166 respondents, with pension plan assets ranging from less than $100 million to over $1 billion, formed the results of this particular survey.

IE