Market Conditions Update – Brock University Pension Plan

Since mid September, financial markets have been operating in what is considered to be the largest financial crisis of its kind in history.  To date, governments around the world have cut interest rates and spent hundreds of billions of dollars to bail out banks, guarantee bank deposits and inject money into credit markets.  Coming soon will be the first-ever global economic summit.  All of these actions are indicative of the times we are facing.  These are challenging times for investors, as the market downturn has negatively affected pension plans and individual investments alike. 

The Pension Committee, which includes 7 BUFA members, continues to monitor the Brock University Pension Plan’s performance in consultation with the Plan’s investment consultant from Towers Perrin and the managers.  The Financial Planning, Audit and Human Resources Committee of the Board will continue to be briefed on the market situation and Plan performance.  The Pension Committee will meet with managers as necessary.  Human Resources will make every effort to keep Plan members updated on the market situation.  Market review documents are being posted on the pension web site so that Plan members can keep informed. During the period of extreme market conditions, monthly market reports will be posted.  The Plan’s monthly rates of return are also posted on the pension web site as they are known

Notes from John Sivell:

Information re. October will be available for posting on the HR WebSite on about 20 November (and on about the 20^th of following months, too). So long as extreme conditions continue, HR will post market reports monthly (instead of quarterly); members can find this information as follows:

·    on the Brock Home Page, click on Faculty & Staff

·    then, Human Resources

·    then, Pension

·    on that page, under ‘Pension News’, Current Pension News gives unusual/important news that could interest members; Market Review gives the 1^st-quarter ’08  review (July-Sept) plus the most recent annual review, which is for July 1 ’07 to June 30 ’08 (the monthly review for October will also be added here, as noted above); under ‘Fund Rates of Return’ you can view the 2007-8 rates of return via Current, and rates of return for previous years via Historical.