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Corporate Moves

CAAT Pension Plan Names Asif Haque CIO

Julie Cays, current CIO of the C$13.5 billion pension plan, will retire at the end of April.
By Michael Katz

Asif Haque


The C$13.5 billion (US$10.8 billion) Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAAT) Pension Plan has named Asif Haque as its new CIO as of May 1. He will succeed Julie Cays, who plans to retire at the end of April.  

Asif, who is the pension fund’s managing director of public markets, joined CAAT in 2010 and has been responsible for its C$11 billion public markets portfolio. The plan says Asif’s team has outperformed market benchmarks over the long-term thanks to effective external manager selection and strategic internal structuring decisions.

“We’re excited to have Asif take over leading our investment team at this critical juncture,” Derek Dobson, CEO of CAAT, said in a statement. “Asif has the strategic vision, skills, and experience we need to support the continued growth of the plan, which is targeted to exceed C$30 billion in assets by 2027.”

Asif will report directly to Dobson.

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Cays joined CAAT in 2006, and under her stewardship the plan earned 10-year annualized returns of 10%, and grew from a traditional asset mix of C$5.3 billion to a diversified portfolio with more than C$13.5 billion under management. Cays oversaw the implementation of CAAT’s private market fund and co-investment programs in private equity, infrastructure, and real estate. And in December, she was named CIO of the year by the Canadian Investment Review.

As of the beginning of the year, the CAAT Pension Plan had a funded level of 119% and a funding reserve of C$3.3 billion.

“I want to thank Julie for her countless contributions to CAAT and congratulate Asif on his new role,” Dobson said. “Julie has been an exemplary leader for CAAT, with influence far beyond investments. We have full confidence Asif will be the same, helping advance our mission to expand defined benefit [DB] coverage to more workers across Canada.”

Outside of CAAT, Asif serves on the board of the Pension Investment Association of Canada (PIAC) and on the investment committees of the United Church of Canada Pension Plan and Nunavut Tunngavik, an organization that supports programs for Inuit people in Nunavut. Before CAAT, Asif held leadership roles at the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP) and State Street Canada.

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Home > News > Research > OECD More Than Doubles US Economic Growth Forecast
Research

OECD More Than Doubles US Economic Growth Forecast

Fiscal stimulus and a sustained vaccination pace are expected to spur the strongest GDP growth in 37 years.
By Michael Katz


What a difference three months can make.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has more than doubled its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the US economy since making its last projections in December. At that time, the OECD said it expected real GDP growth of 3.2% in the US in 2021, but now it expects the US economy to grow 6.5% this year.

If its current predictions are accurate, it would be only the second time since 1966 that US GDP growth exceeded 6%, following behind 1984 when GDP growth was a red-hot 7.2%.

The OECD also upgraded its global growth forecast for 2021 to 5.6% from 4.2% in December. But the biggest upgrade on a national basis was made to India’s GDP forecast, which the OECD now pegs at a blistering 12.6%, up from its forecast of 7.9% three months ago.

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“Global economic prospects have improved markedly in recent months, helped by the gradual deployment of effective vaccines, announcements of additional fiscal support in some countries, and signs that economies are coping better with measures to suppress the virus,” the OECD said in its interim economic outlook report.

The report said that while prospects for a way out of the COVID-19 pandemic have improved due to increased vaccine production and deployment, “there are signs of increasing divergence in activity developments across sectors and economies.” It added that expectations for a stronger recovery are also reflected in financial and commodity markets, with US long-term bond yields and oil prices returning to their pre-pandemic levels.

“Speed is of the essence,” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said in a statement. “There is no room for complacency. Vaccines must be deployed faster and globally. This will require better international cooperation and coordination than we have seen up to now. It is only by doing so that we can focus our attention on building forward better and laying the foundations for a prosperous and lasting recovery for all.”

The report also said the improved prospects of a global recovery have led to financial market expectations of higher inflation, although the OECD said underlying price pressures generally remain mild in advanced economies. Public debt levels have risen sharply almost everywhere, the report added, but debt-servicing costs in most OECD economies continue to benefit from very low interest rates.

Despite the more optimistic economic outlook, the report warned that a long-term shift to remote working, reductions in business travel, and the increasing digital delivery of services, including e-commerce, could change the mix of jobs available and the location of many workplaces.

“Such potential shifts would accentuate longstanding pre-pandemic challenges from an extended period of weak growth, widening inequalities in outcomes, and access to opportunities,” according to the report.

The report also calls for ramping up vaccinations, for more targeted fiscal stimulus to boost both output and confidence, and to maintain income support for people and businesses hard hit by the pandemic.

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