All pension plans within the BNY Mellon Canadian Master Trust Universe produced positive results during the fourth quarter of 2017, with a median return of 4.29%, according to BNY Mellon Global Risk Solutions.
It was the seventh-consecutive quarter of positive results for the fund-level tracking service, which returned 9.83% for the year, compared to its 10-year annualized return of +6.68%.
US Equities were the top-performing asset class during the quarter, with a median return of 6.65%, despite underperforming the S&P 500 Index’s 6.84% return, and international equities were the best-performing asset class for the year, posting gains of 20.01%. Meanwhile, real estate was the worst-performing asset class in the quarter, with a median return of 2.39%, and fixed income had the weakest returns for the year with gains of 3.27%.
Emerging markets equity was the top-performing sub-asset class, with a median return of 7.03% for the quarter, while US large-cap equities rose 6.75% during the same time period. Canadian long-duration fixed income was the top-performing Canadian fixed-income sub-asset class in the fourth quarter, rising 5.2%.
Private equity earned a median return of 4.42%, while infrastructure, real estate, and hedge funds gained 3.04%, 2.39%, and 2.2% in the quarter, respectively. Fixed income had a median fourth quarter return of 2.98%, outpacing the FTSE TMX Canada Bond Universe Index return of 2.02%.
Canadian Equity posted a quarterly median return of 4.3%, compared to the S&P/TSX Composite Index return of 4.45%. International equity and non-Canadian equity had median returns of 5.45% and 6.03%, respectively, beating out the MSCI EAFE Index and MSCI World Index returns of 4.46% and +5.81%.
Canadian universities posted a median return of 4.22% in the fourth quarter, with a one-year median return of 10.4%, while Canadian foundations and endowments had median returns of 4.11% during the quarter, and 10.03% for the year.
The BNY Mellon Canadian Master Trust Universe consists of 88 Canadian corporate, public, and university pension plans, and has a market value of more than $241.9 billion, with an average plan size of $2.7 billion.
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