Canadian public and corporate defined benefit plans were a median 97% funded as of Dec. 29, according to Mercer (Canada), up 4 percentage points from the end of 2016 but unchanged from three months ago.
Separately, Mercer’s pension health index, which tracks the typical Canadian defined benefit plan based on 100% funding as of Jan. 1, 1999, was 106% funded at the end of the fourth quarter, the same as the end of the previous quarter but also 4 percentage points higher than a year earlier, Mercer said in a news release.
Surging equity markets helped maintain overall funding in the fourth quarter. Partially mitigating equity gains were long-term interest rates that fell 30 basis points in the quarter.
