Staff of the Ontario Teachers Retirement System, North York, with about C$50 billion (U.S. $36 billion) under management, are working to apply value-at-risk, a risk control technique, to the fund, said Robert Bertram, senior vice president-investments.
Value-at-risk would become a part of the system's investment decision-making process, but the particulars on how, and if, the process would work haven't been determined, he said. Value-at-risk is a statistical method of valuing the potential losses of a portfolio under given market scenarios. Conclusions on the effort could be available in July or August.
Bankers Trust created what it says is the first synthetic GIC to include an equity market component. Traditionally synthetic GICs involve using a book value wrap for a short- to intermediate-term bond portfolio. Bankers has completed a $25 million synthetic contract in using a wrapped balanced fund, said Scott Carter, vice president at BT's benefit strategies group. He said the placement was with a pooled fund, which he would not identify.
New York Life Benefit Services is introducing a service to link 401(k) participants to their accounts over the Internet. NYL's client participants may review or change their portfolio investments and contributions model, apply for loans, obtain updated statements and calculate projected retirement benefits over an encrypted Internet connection. The firm plans to introduce a similar capability for its defined benefit pension clients later this year.
Barclays Global Investors Canada, Toronto, created the Barclays Manitoba Flood Relief Effort to help Red River flood victims in Manitoba. The initial $25,000 donation from Barclays will be used by the local Red Cross to provide disaster relief.
