Much has changed in the Canadian group retirement landscape during the last few decades, with the transition away from defined benefit pensions towards defined contribution products.
That change has shifted both investment and longevity risk to plan members, yet we continue to live in an environment of best practices from an oversight perspective.
As a group retirement advisor, NFP Canada’s Mike Werbowecki and Fergus Meldrum have seen the positive effects for organizations and plan members by aligning our retirement governance practices in Canada with those in the US. Increasingly, US parent firms want their Canadian subsidiaries to adopt an oversight process similar to what is prescribed in the US.
In Benefits and Pensions Monitor, Werbowecki and Meldrum write that they prefer to create an ERISA-like approach when supporting their Canadian clients, which they believe includes the following benefits:
- Lower fees
- Greater investment fund oversight
- Better governance
- Plan design benchmarking
- Employee education
- Improved financial security
Click here to read their full article.