As policy makers across the country implement pension reform and
address priorities, we wanted to highlight a few of the recent
reforms impacting private sector registered pension plans that, in
our view, are positive steps, warranting consideration in the other
jurisdictions:
Optional Tool Box Stocking Stuffers
- Solvency Reserve Accounts
- Target Benefit Plans
- Variable Payments from Pension Plans
Under the Tree Discharge Item
- Immunity on Annuity Buy-outs
Solvency Reserve Accounts
Although surplus seems to be a distant memory for some, there
are many plans whose funded positions have significantly improved
over the last few years. Surplus, as many of us recall, had its own
issues – entitlement, trapped capital, etc. Alberta's new
Employment Pension Plans Act (EPPA) contains
provisions to permit solvency reserve accounts (SRA). The EPPA now
allows a pension plan to hold an SRA as a separate account within
the plan. The SRA is used to hold
