The Handbook of Board Governance, 3rd Edition

9Pension Fund Governance: Working Under Tension

Bryan Campbell, PhD

CIRANO Researcher and Fellow

Michel Magnan, PhD, FRSC, FCPA, Auditor, FCA, ASC, CDir

John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, CIRANO

This chapter is based upon Campbell, B. and Magnan, M. 2015. Gouvernance des caisses de retraite et gestion de portefeuille dans un contexte de tension. CIRANO Research Project 2015RP-16. We thank the Fonds pour l’éducation et la saine gouvernance from Autorité des marchés financiers for its financial support. Financial support from the S.A. Jarislowsky Chair in Corporate Governance (Concordia University) and the Institute for the Governance of Private and Public Organizations is also acknowledged. Both authors are members of the Pension Committee of the Concordia University Employees Retirement Plan. However, we are solely responsible for the content of this chapter, which does not reflect in any way the views of Autorité des marchés financiers or of the Concordia University Employees Retirement Plan. We also thank Jonathan Wang, Tarshi Zabullah and Soukaina Mahfood for their help and assistance in making this chapter a reality.

Abstract

According to the latest figures, Canadian trusteed pension plans oversee more than $2 trillion in assets. The corresponding figure for U.S. pension plans exceeds $20 trillion. However, despite their financial might, the governance of pension plans remains a relatively uncharted domain. This chapter provides an overview of pension ...