Soaring stock prices boosted returns at major Canadian pension plans, even as a slowdown in private equity weighed on overall performance at funds like the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. But strong equity returns don't necessarily mean pension plans should allocate more capital to stocks, Sebastien Betermier told Bloomberg.
"Valuations are high, so there is a risk of investing in listed equities at their peak," says Betermier, an associate professor of finance at McGill Desautels.
McGill has expanded to Luxembourg, where it will deliver finance training in one of Europe’s major financial centres.
“The Master of Management in Finance (MMF) program is designed for people who want to continue their careers in Luxembourg’s financial sector,” says Patrick Augustin, Associate Professor of Finance and the Academic Director of the MMF program in Luxembourg.
Canada’s economy is shifting quickly, and RBC is working with a number of universities to deliver microcourses, short, targeted training to help users gain sought-after skills at no cost.
The McGill Personal Finance Essentials course is one of them. Developed in collaboration with McGill University, Western University, and the University of Guelph, RBC Online Microcourses offer Canadians a faster, more accessible path to job-ready learning.
As global trade wars, geopolitical tensions and AI advances reshape financial markets, pension funds face mounting pressure to adapt. Sebastien Betermier, Associate Professor of Finance at McGill Desautels, argues that 2026 demands three priorities from pension leaders: building more agile portfolios capable of withstanding regime shifts, forging proactive partnerships with governments on infrastructure investment, and rethinking their exposure to private markets as retail investors flood in.
To rent or to buy—that’s the dilemma facing many today. Real estate prices are at historic highs, and elevated interest rates have pushed up the cost of homeownership. At the same time, stock markets have delivered strong returns in recent years. Beyond these financial pressures, the nature of homeownership itself adds another layer of complexity.
Professor Patrick Augustin addressed the critical gap between technical risk analysis and executive decision-making at the ALRiM-GARP Banking Risks Conference in Luxembourg in January. Speaking alongside regulators and industry leaders, Augustin argued that risk managers must develop strong communication skills to translate complex metrics into actionable insights for boards and senior leadership.
As Europe confronts structural challenges in its pension systems, industry leaders gathered at Deloitte Luxembourg’s 25th Deutscher Fondstag to assess the role of the fund sector in strengthening longterm retirement security. Professor Patrick Augustin of McGill University offered a datadriven lens on the issue, presenting findings from ALFI’s study Europe’s Productive Capital Gap.
As US President Donald Trump threatened to take control of Greenland by any means necessary, European countries weighed a response. After decades of low levels of investment in their militaries, Europeans wouldn’t fare well in a head-to-head confrontation with an invading force from the United States. But collectively, Europe’s economy is huge, and they hold large numbers of US Treasury Bonds—the financial instrument through which the US government issues debt.
Generative AI is changing the way people work, but many organizations are still looking for ways to use it effectively. Organizations need to think about how they want to use AI, and what their level of risk appetite.
Are managers of large investment funds good investors on a personal level? Not necessarily, says Patrick Augustin, Associate Professor of Finance at McGill Desautels. “There can be a correlation, but also not,” says Augustin. “It’s very difficult to beat the market, on average. We see people doing it, but it raises the question of is it luck, or is it skill? That being said, we can always limit mistakes.
Stock markets continue to hit record highs, yet many governments remain strapped for cash—and some are eyeing pension funds to cover fiscal shortfalls.
They should resist the temptation to mandate that pension funds invest more domestically, said Associate Professor of Finance Sebastien Betermier in an interview with CNBC.
Some national pension funds operate on a ‘pay as you go’ model, meaning that retiree pensions are primarily funded by current workers. But other national pension plans—including the Canada Pension Plan—operate on a capitalized model, meaning that workers contributions are invested to fund future payouts. Capitalized plans allow for funds to be invested in a wider variety of assets, and can yield much bigger returns, according to research by Patrick Augustin, Associate Professor of Finance at McGill Desautels.
Luxembourg is among the richest places in the world. It is a small, landlocked European country, but has carved out a niche as a major financial centre. Yet its public pension system could benefit from adopting a capitalized pension model, according to research by Patrick Augustin and Sebastien Betermier, both Associate Professors of Finance at McGill Desautels. A capitalized pension fund invests the pension contributions of current workers to pay for retiree benefits in the future.
Cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) allow investors to hold a variety of cryptocurrencies in a single investment product. While all of Canada’s Big Six banks now include some crypto ETFs in their portfolios, these investments represent only a small fraction of their holdings. A major advantage of ETFs is their ability to offer protection from market volatility. However, given the speculative nature of crypto means it can still be extremely volatile, even within an ETF structure.
The Government of Canada is exploring ways to increase investments in the country’s pension fund equities, but doing so sacrifices returns, according to The Economist. Over the past decade, Canadian mid and small-cap stocks have returned just 3-4% each year, while U.S. stocks have seen a 13% return annually. Opening infrastructure to investment is another way to encourage pension funds to invest more of their capital domestically.
