Employer pension plans (trusteed pension funds), second quarter 2022
Archived Content
Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.
Released: 2022-12-15
2,079,901
Second quarter 2022
-2.6% 
(year-over-year change)
2,079,901
Second quarter 2022
-5.4%
(quarterly change)
The second quarter saw the market value of assets held by Canadian trusteed pension funds drop $119.3 billion to $2.1 trillion, down 5.4% from the previous quarter. Year over year, the market value fell by 2.6% (-$55.5 billion). This is still higher than the market value of the trusteed pension funds at the end of the last pre-COVID-19 pandemic quarter (the first quarter of 2020), when the market value of assets was $2.0 trillion. It is worth noting that in the second quarter of 2022, the Standard and Poor's 500 dropped 10.9%.
As in the previous quarter, the five largest asset categories, which together account for just over 90% of the total market value of assets, showed mixed results. The top two categories, being equities (-7.1%) and bonds (-7.2%), fell. Real estate rose 2.2%, infrastructure was up 3.1%, and other assets fell 3.6%.
Canadian bonds and equities showed downward movement both quarter over quarter and year over year. In the second quarter, Canadian bonds fell 7.3% and Canadian equities fell 7.9%, while year over year, Canadian bonds fell 8.7% and Canadian equities fell 7.2%.
Overall, domestic assets fell both in the quarter (-6.4%) and year over year (-4.7%). Foreign assets dropped 3.4% in the second quarter and 1.7% year over year.
Net income in the negatives in the second quarter
The Canadian trusteed pension funds posted a net loss of $3.4 billion in the second quarter, compared with a net income of $24.7 billion in the first quarter of 2022 and of $40.4 billion in the second quarter of 2021.
Total revenue fell 51.2% (-$26.2 billion) to $25.0 billion, mainly because of net realized losses, which accounted for $25.5 billion of the decrease.
Year over year, total revenue was down 62.5% in the second quarter from $66.7 billion in the second quarter of 2021.
Second quarter expenditures rose 7.4% (+$2.0 billion) in the quarter and 8.1% (+$2.1 billion) year over year. The expenditures were driven by pension payments out of fund, while the remaining categories were mixed and contributed very little to the total change.
Domestic and foreign assets continue to decline
The total value of domestic holdings fell 6.4% (-$60.4 billion) in the second quarter and by 4.7% (-$43.4 billion) year over year.
All domestic asset classes declined in the second quarter, with the largest decrease posted by bonds, which fell 7.3% (-$35.2 billion), followed by equities, which fell 7.9% (-$15.9 billion). The remaining asset categories, combined, accounted for a total of $9.3 billion drop in the total market value of domestic assets.
Foreign assets posted a decrease of 3.4% in the second quarter, which translated into a $33.9 billion drop. Foreign equities suffered the biggest drop, falling by 6.8% (-$44.4 billion). Although not as large a contributor, foreign bonds also fell slightly by $5.4 billion. Real estate rose 8.4% (+$10.5 billion) and was one of two asset categories posting an increase in the second quarter. Infrastructure also showed positive results, rising 4.8% (+$6.4 billion). Foreign short-term investments fell 7.0% (-$1.0 billion).
Year over year, foreign assets fell 1.7% in the second quarter and dipped back under the $1 trillion mark achieved in the first quarter.
Assets of nationality unknown accounted for 10.9% of all assets at the end of the second quarter, down from 11.4% in the previous quarter and up slightly from 10.4% year over year.
Both public and private sector funds decline
The value of assets held by both public and private sector plans fell in the second quarter, with the public sector posting a 4.8% decrease (-$83.0 billion). Private sector holdings fell 8.0% (-$36.3 billion). Year over year, public sector plans posted a 0.2% increase in the second quarter, significantly outperforming the private sector, which dropped by 12.2%.
The proportion of the total assets of trusteed pension funds held by the public sector had been steadily increasing, reaching 79.9% in the second quarter, up from 79.3% in the previous quarter. Public plans held 77.7% of the assets a year earlier.
Note to readers
Starting in the first quarter of 2021, the survey was redesigned to collect additional variables and increase the number of pension funds covered quarterly.
Previously, the quarterly survey included approximately the 150 largest trusteed pension funds, and the remainder of the pension amounts was imputed based on the results of the biennial Census of Trusteed Pension Funds. The new design no longer utilizes the data from the biennial Census, which has been discontinued in 2016. Instead, the quarterly survey's sample has been augmented to include the top 250 trusteed pension plans, equating to approximately 90% of the total value of all trusteed pension assets, resulting in reduced respondent burden. Therefore, the values reported in this release refer to the 250 largest pension plans and no longer include imputation for the remainder of the trusteed pension plan universe.
The new design eases data collection for respondents and data interpretability for users by reflecting the format of financial statements more closely. It also allows for higher accuracy in certain variables, such as the share of assets invested abroad. Additional detail in the reporting categories also reduces the share of assets classified in the "other assets" category.
Tables 11-10-0084-01, 11-10-0085-01 and 11-10-0086-01 have replaced tables 11-10-0076-01, 11-10-0077-01 and 11-10-0079-01, which are now terminated and have been archived.
For the purposes of this survey, trusteed pension funds include the assets of one or more registered pension plans: those held under a trust agreement, those held by a pension corporation or pension fund society, those administered under legislation by the Government of Canada or the government of a province of Canada, and those held by an insurance company for investment management only.
Data on revenues and expenditures for pension funds routinely exhibit seasonal characteristics. Readers should, therefore, view quarterly changes with some caution.
Pension funds held in total under an annuity insurance contract are excluded from the survey.
The data are subject to revisions for a period of 18 months from initial release.
Products
The Income, pensions, spending and wealth portal, which is accessible from the Subjects module of the Statistics Canada website, provides users with a single point of access to a wide variety of information related to revenue, pensions, spending and wealth.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
- Date modified: