The Long View

2022 Year in Review

2022 was a challenging year for OPB and many investors. However, it’s important to remember that for pension plans, what really matters is the long view, and the Public Service Pension Plan remains well funded on a long-term basis.”

Mark Fuller
Mark Fuller, President & CEO

2022 Highlights

Investment Return
-7.8%
OPB
-8.1%
Benchmark
Net Assets
$31B
 
Funded status
89%
funded on a financial statement basis

Financial statement valuations reflect the full impact of market gains and losses in a given year. However, long-term expectations are what really matter to a pension plan. For this reason, plan funding decisions are driven by going-concern valuations, which use smoothing to make sure that the Plan is not simply reacting to short-term swings in its funded position. The Plan remains well funded on a going-concern basis.”

Peter Shena
Peter Shena, Chief Pension Officer
Client Service
8.6/10
Client Service Satisfaction
CEM BENCHMARKING SURVEY
90/100
Ranked first amongst our Canadian peers

Welcome from Our Chair and CEO

Geri Markvoort
Geri Markvoort
Board Chair
Mark Fuller
Mark Fuller
President & CEO

The Long View

OPB is in it for the long term. Our strategic and investment plans focus on decades, not individual years. Consequently, the results of a single year, whether positive or negative, while important, do not have a conclusive impact on our Plan’s long-term sustainability or our capacity to meet its pension obligations. For example, in 2008, the year of the global financial crisis, investments worldwide, including OPB’s, were negatively impacted. However, we made a robust recovery from that event and currently have $31 billion in assets, and since we started in 1990, our long-term average net investment return is a healthy 7.6%. 2022 was a challenging year for the investment sector. World events like the lingering pandemic and the war in Ukraine drove market volatility and helped spur inflation. Inevitably, this affected investments, including OPB’s, and our results for this particular year were disappointing. However, our members’ pensions remain secure and our performance against our benchmark shows that our strategy is sound and on track. Taking the long-term view, backed by history, OPB is well positioned to help its members enjoy the benefits of a secure retirement today and tomorrow.

State of the plan