Large Federal Pension Investment Disclosures

Summary#

The government published proposed Regulations Amending the Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985 (Publication of Information Relating to the Investments of Plans) that would require public reporting of how large federally regulated private pension plans invest their money. The rule targets plans with $500 million or more in assets and would have the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) publish standardized breakdowns by asset type and by country/region.

What it does#

• Requires OSFI to publish, in a standard format, the investment distribution of prescribed federally regulated pension plans (those with at least $500 million in assets).
• Specifies the asset classes to be reported: public equities, private equities, bonds, infrastructure, real estate, short-term assets, and any other class.
• Specifies geographic buckets for reporting: Canada, United States, Europe, China, Asia‑Pacific (excluding China), Latin America, and any other location.
• Requires amounts to be shown in dollars and as a percentage of total assets, and separately for defined benefit and defined contribution parts of plans.
• Requires reporting by employer (for single‑employer plans) or by plan name (for multi‑employer plans), plus an aggregate for all plans.
• Calls for OSFI’s first published set of data to cover the plan years 2022, 2023 and 2024.
• The rules are a proposed amendment to the Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985 and follow a legislative change in Bill C‑69 that received royal assent on June 20, 2024.
• There is a 30‑day comment period while this proposal is published in the Canada Gazette, Part I.

Who's affected#

• Members and retirees of federally regulated private pension plans — especially those in the largest plans — are the main audience for the new disclosures.
• Administrators of federally regulated pension plans with $500 million or more in assets (about 50 plans) would need to supply the requested investment breakdowns to OSFI.
• OSFI would collect, process and publish the information.
• Smaller federally regulated plans and most provincially regulated plans are not directly covered. The notice says it may encourage similar provincial disclosures, but that is not guaranteed.

Why it matters#

• The change would give plan members and the public clearer, comparable information about where large federally regulated pension funds put their money — by country/region and by asset type.
• That can help members understand investment risk and how their retirement savings are allocated.
• The proposal targets the biggest plans that hold most federally regulated assets (about 89% of such assets) while aiming for minimal added cost to plans and to government.
• Improved, standardized data could make it easier to compare plans and could encourage similar reporting in other provinces.