The funded status of Canadian pension plans ended the third quarter around 85%, but two reports said they ended up there from different starting points.
According to Mercer, the median funding ratio for its Canadian plan clients was 85% as of Wednesday, up 3 percentage points from June 30 and the same as the start of 2016.
Also, the Mercer Pension Health index — which tracks the typical Canadian DB plan based on 100% funding as of Jan. 1, 1999 — was 92% as of Wednesday, up from 90% as of June 30 and even with Jan. 1.
In a separate report, Aon Hewitt said Canadian plans it administers had a median funding ratio of 84.6% as of Thursday, down from 85.4% on June 30 and 87.6% on Jan. 1.
Twelve percent of Aon Hewitt-administered plans were fully funded as of Thursday, vs. 9.1% as of June 30.
A typical balanced pension fund portfolio would have returned 4.1% during the third quarter through Sept. 28, Mercer said in a news release. U.S. equities returned 6.29%; EAFE markets, 12.5%; international equities, 8.5%; and Canadian equities, 5.4%. Long-term Canada bond yields were 1.7%.
