Report: Pension Committee - May 27, 2020

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Via Virtual Meeting

REPORT NUMBER 41 OF THE PENSION COMMITTEE
May 27, 2020


To the Governing Council,
University of Toronto.

Your Committee reports that it held a virtual meeting on Wednesday, May 27, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. with the following members present:

Present:
Janet L. Ecker, Chair; Alex D. McKinnon, Vice-Chair; David Bowden; Colleen Burke; Louis Florence; Joan Johnston; Anna Kennedy; Brian D. Lawson; Joanne McNamara; Cynthia Messenger; John Paul Morgan; Maureen Stapleton; Paul Whittam; Bruce Winter

Regrets:
Kenneth MacDonald; Kim McLean; Arthur Rubinoff; Andrew Szende

Non-Voting Assessors:
Sheila Brown, Chief Financial Officer; Kelly Hannah-Moffat, Vice-President, Human Resources and Equity

Secretariat:
Patrick McNeill, Committee Secretary; Tracey Gameiro, Assistant Secretary

In Attendance:
Rosalyn Figov, Chief Operations Officer, Office of the VPHRE; Angela Hildyard, Special Advisor to the President; Pierre Piché, Controller and Director of Financial Services; Allan Shapira, Plan Actuary, Aon;
Daren Smith, President and Chief Investment Officer, University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation (UTAM)


The Committee met in closed session

  1. Chair’s Remarks

    The Chair welcomed members and guests to the virtual meeting.  The Chair introduced one new member, Mr. Paul Whitman, a unionized staff representative from CUPE.

    The Committee Moved In Camera
     
  2. Update: University Pension Plan (UPP)

    Professor Hildyard presented an update on the University Pension Plan [“the UPP”].

    The Committee returned to Closed Session.
     
  3. Reports of the Administrative Assessors

    Sheila Brown advised that the actuarial valuation was going to be filed on July 1, 2020 with the pension regulator (FSRA) in accordance with the new Ontario funding rules – the University had previously considered an earlier date.

    Allan Shapira stated that the new filing may create a requirement to increase special payments over the minimum already in the valuation noting at the same time those special payment increases would not have to start until July 1, 2021 at which point the transition to the new UPP would have already taken place under a new Jointly Sponsored Pension Plan (JSPP) funding regime.  Mr. Shapira reminded members that the deficit was $238M as of July 1, 2019 and that the University continued to make special payments well over what was currently required. 
     
  4. Report of the Previous Meeting

    On motion duly moved, seconded and carried

    IT WAS RESOLVED THAT 

    THE Pension Committee Report Number 40 from the meeting of March 25, 2020, be approved.
     
  5. Business Arising from the Report

    There was no business arising from the report of the previous meeting.
     
  6. Date of Next Meeting

    The next meeting of the Pension Committee was scheduled for Wednesday, September 23, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.
     
  7. Reports of the Administrative Assessors

    There were no reports of the Assessors.
     
  8. Other Business

    The Chair thanked members for their service on the Committee over the past year and recognized Mr. Alex MacKinnon in his role as Vice-Chair.  Ms Ecker also thanked the assessors and other members of the administration who provided support to the Committee, including the Secretariat.

    There were no items of other Business. 

    The meeting adjourned at 5:02 p.m.

         
June 1, 2020