Employer pension plans (trusteed pension funds), fourth quarter 2023
Released: 2024-06-12
2 248 499.0
Fourth quarter 2023
4.5% 
(year-over-year change)
In the fourth quarter, the market value of assets held by Canadian trusteed pension funds reached $2.2 trillion, a year-over-year increase of $95.9 billion, or 4.5%.
Of the five largest asset categories, which together accounted for 92.4% of the total market value of assets at the end of the fourth quarter, four increased in value over the previous year. The category with the largest dollar increase was bonds (+$52.9 billion, or +9.9%), followed by equities (+$26.1 billion, or +3.2%), other assets (+$20.1 billion, or +13.1%) and infrastructure (+$17.6 billion, or +8.7%). Real estate decreased by $7.9 billion (-3.0%).
Overall, in the fourth quarter, domestic assets rose $26.7 billion (+3.0%) and foreign assets rose $46.6 billion (+4.5%) year over year.
Net income positive in the fourth quarter
Canadian trusteed pension funds posted a net income of $28.0 billion in the fourth quarter, up 66.3% from $16.8 billion one year earlier.
Total revenue increased 32.6%, or $13.6 billion, from the fourth quarter of 2022 to $55.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Expenditures were up 9.8% (+$2.4 billion) year over year to $27.2 billion in the fourth quarter.
Domestic and foreign assets grow
The total market value of domestic holdings totalled $904.2 billion in the fourth quarter, an increase of 3.0% from the same quarter the previous year.
Bonds and infrastructure were the only domestic asset categories that increased year over year in the fourth quarter. Bonds grew by $41.8 billion (+9.3%) and infrastructure rose slightly (+$3.1 billion, or +6.9%). The remaining categories declined in value. Short-term investments were down $10.5 billion (-12.5%), followed by equities (-$4.1 billion, or -2.2%) and real estate (-$3.7 billion, or -3.0%).
In contrast, three of five foreign asset categories rose in the fourth quarter, led by equities (+$30.1 billion, or +4.8%), followed by infrastructure (+$14.5 billion, or +9.3%) and bonds (+$11.2 billion, or +12.4%). Short-term investments fell by $5.0 billion (-39.9%) and real estate assets decreased by $4.3 billion (-2.9%). Total foreign assets increased by $46.6 billion, or 4.5%, year over year to just under $1.1 trillion.
The value of assets of unknown nationality ($263.5 billion) constituted 11.7% of the total value of assets at the end of 2023, a slight increase from 11.2% one year earlier.
Public and private sectors enjoy a year of growth
In the fourth quarter, the value of assets held by public sector plans rose by $64.6 billion (+3.7%) from the previous year, nearly reaching $1.8 trillion. Private sector assets increased by $31.3 billion (+7.4%) to $456.5 billion.
The proportion of total assets of trusteed pension funds held by the public sector fell from 80.2% at the end of 2022 to 79.7% at the end of 2023.
Chart 1
Quarterly trusteed pension fund assets
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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 were imputed based on the results of the biennial Census of Trusteed Pension Funds. The new design no longer uses the data from the biennial census, which was 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 improves 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.
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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).
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