Leadership Message
Plan Sustainability
Over the course of 2024, we remained focused on maintaining the sustainability of our Plan.
Total Fund Return
Funded Status
Net Assets
“Sustainability is a constant focus of our leadership team: sustainability of the organization, of funding, of investment strategy, of service for our members and support for our team. That focus is crucial in guiding the choices and decisions OPB makes today to ensure we meet the needs of tomorrow.”
How is OPB protecting the pension promise?
Planning for the future and the long-term sustainability of the PSPP remains a priority for OPB, and in 2024 we acted on that by prioritizing a Funding Response Plan. In partnership with our investment manager, IMCO, and our Plan Sponsor, the Government of Ontario, we executed several studies aimed at restoring the Plan’s funded status.
Studies conducted included an Experience Study and an Asset/Liability (A/L) study; both helped shape our understanding of important insights about the Plan.
Results from the Experience Study enabled us to strengthen the Plan’s actuarial assumptions, helped us understand risks, and identified emerging Plan experience trends such as how members, on average, continue to live longer and as such, will receive their pension for longer. The A/L study was done in collaboration with IMCO and refreshed our SAA to focus on delivering stronger returns within our target risk profile while reducing our susceptibility to individual asset class or market segment risks. The Plan’s year-end funded ratio was 86%, an increase from 2023, on a financial statement basis.
Growing the PSPP
2024 was another successful year of high enrolment and increasing our membership through organic growth.
Investments
In 2024, OPB delivered improved returns compared to the prior year and took steps to build on our performance through our partnership with our investment manager, IMCO. This collaboration continues to help us meet our financial obligations on a long-term, sustainable basis.
Investment Performance Q&A
How did OPB’s investments perform in 2024?
Who leads OPB’s investment strategy?
How are OPB and IMCO working together to strengthen investment performance?
What other notable investment achievements occurred during the year that will have a long-term impact on the Plan?
How did OPB’s investments perform in 2024?
In 2024, the Plan’s investments generated a one-year net return of 8.1% (net of external investment management and custodial fees and OPB’s operating expenses). This represents a notable improvement compared to the 3.1% investment return in 2023.
The 2024 investment return was significantly above our discount rate of 6.25%, which is the long-term investment return identified as necessary to maintain the Plan’s financial health.
Inflation moderated in 2024, prompting the Bank of Canada to lower its key lending rate throughout the year. The returns on short-term and one- to three-year Canadian government bonds decreased sharply, while long-term yields ended the year slightly higher. During 2024, equity markets performed well, particularly in the U.S. Markets also saw investor enthusiasm around opportunities created by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In 2024, the strong performance of OPB’s Public and Private Equity strategies had the most significant positive impact on Total Fund returns. However, the Global Real Estate strategy continued to perform poorly. This underperformance was driven by the office component, where returns are still impacted by the slow return of many employees to working in offices in the post-pandemic environment.
Who leads OPB’s investment strategy?
Our Chief Investment Officer (CIO) is responsible for overseeing OPB’s relationship with our asset manager, IMCO, and their investment performance to ensure OPB remains able to deliver the pension promise for today’s and tomorrow’s public servants. OPB’s CIO, Chris Kautzky, retired in May 2025; his successor, Andrew Tambone, started as CIO in July 2025.
How are OPB and IMCO working together to strengthen investment performance?
OPB played a key role in creating IMCO, which was established to pursue opportunities and execute strategies that OPB would not have been able to do on its own.
IMCO is our exclusive investment manager and we have developed a strong and constructive relationship over the past several years. OPB maintains an open line of communication with IMCO executives, while our Investment Committee receives regular updates on key investment developments. OPB and IMCO are aligned on our long-term investment approach to service OPB’s long-term liabilities. IMCO’s investment strategies are designed to protect the sustainability of the Plan over time.
Asset mix is the most important driver of investment performance. At OPB, asset mix is defined in our SAA, which sets out the target long-term allocations (weights) to each major asset class.
OPB worked with IMCO in 2024 to conduct a comprehensive A/L study to review and refresh our SAA with a view to delivering stronger returns while remaining within a target risk level. We also expect our new SAA will provide OPB with:
- better diversification across asset classes;
- increased access to liquidity;
- the ability to improve the funding ratio of the Plan; and
- support for the PSPP’s long-term funding objectives.
What other notable investment achievements occurred during the year that will have a long-term impact on the Plan?
IMCO reached a major milestone in 2024 with the completion of its client asset pooling strategy. Real Estate was the final strategy pooled, joining the Private Equity, Global Credit, Infrastructure and Public Equities pools that were launched in prior years.
This is a significant step in advancing IMCO’s mandate of providing public sector institutions with access to world-class, multi-strategy investment management services in a cost-effective manner.
Pooling client assets allows IMCO to increase its operational efficiency on behalf of all clients, including OPB. Together with increased internalization of investment management, the pooling of assets will help deliver lower costs to IMCO’s clients over the long term.
Previous
/
Next
Rates of Return
OPB’s compounded rates of net investment return for the one-year, five-year, 10-year and since-inception periods ending December 31, 2024 are as follows:
| Return | 1-year | 5-year | 10-year | Since Inception |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Fund return | 8.1% | 3.8% | 5.3% | 7.5% |
| Benchmark return | 11.0% | 4.3% | 5.7% | 7.4% |
|
Note: Returns are net of all Plan administration and investment management expenses. |
||||
Click below to see a table illustrating the Plan’s previous and new long-term SAA target weights as well as the actual mix at December 31, 2024.
| Asset Class | Previous Long-Term Target |
Dec. 31, 2024 Actual |
New Long-Term Target |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Portfolio Leverage |
(10%) |
(5.6%) |
(10%) |
|
Money Market |
1% |
0.2% |
1% |
|
Long Government Bonds (Canada and U.S.) |
12.5% |
12.4% |
16% |
|
Inflation-Linked Government Bonds |
12.5% |
12.3% |
11% |
|
Global Credit |
13% |
12.4% |
12.5% |
|
Canadian Public Equities1 |
2.5% |
2.8% |
N/A |
|
Global Public Equities1 |
14% |
13.6% |
N/A |
|
EM Public Equities1 |
5.5% |
5.2% |
N/A |
|
Public Equities (ACWI) |
|
|
27% |
|
Real Estate (Net of Debt) |
15% |
14.9% |
12.5% |
|
Infrastructure |
14.5% |
14.8% |
15% |
|
Private Equity |
12.5% |
14.7% |
15% |
|
Public Market Alternatives |
7% |
2.3% |
0% |
|
Total |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
|
Note: Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding. |
|||
|
1 Canadian, Global and Emerging Markets Public Equities will transition to merge into Public Equities (ACWI) with a new long-term target of 27.0%. |
|||
Investment Highlights
Led a €2.1 billion (C$3.3 million) recapitalization of euNetworks, bringing in more investors and enhancing the value of this Western European fibre network provider.
Private Equity portfolio returned 14.6% in 2024, compared to 3.5% in 2023.
IMCO’s first greenfield net-zero greenhouse gas emissions building in Laval, Quebec, achieved Canada Green Building Council’s Zero Carbon Building Design Certification. The 300,000-square-foot industrial project is fully leased.
Acquisition Highlights
Completed the acquisition of a £17-million (C$31.5 million) co-investment with Breakthrough Properties in Trinity House, a lab-enabled development near Oxford University, and numerous life science companies in the U.K.
Service Highlights
Providing outstanding service and trusted guidance – for both employers and members – is at the heart of the Advise and Protect model that defines OPB.
How did OPB meet member needs in 2024?
Delivering outstanding service to members that aligns with our unique Advise and Protect model is a defining aspect of OPB. As part of that model, we remain committed to providing tailored advice to members, enabling them to make informed decisions about their retirement plan. In 2024 we also prioritized member education, transforming the way we deliver member-focused information sessions. Starting in November to kick off Financial Literacy Month, members could now access educational webinars through their e-services member portal. This was a huge step forward in enabling access to important pension information, and we saw members welcome this approach.
We hosted 151 education presentations, including webinars and in-person events, that reached 8,349 members in 2024, our highest on record. This growth represents an increase of more than 2,500 members compared to 5,785 in 2023.
“We’re incredibly proud of the trust our members place in us, and it shows in the way they’ve rated their experience with our team. This past year, we focused on making every interaction count – from welcoming new members with a smooth onboarding experience to investing in modern systems that make managing your pension easier and more intuitive. It’s all part of our commitment to evolving with our members’ needs while delivering the reliable service they expect.”
Delivering Exceptional Client Service
As part of our long-term strategy to enhance services for our members, OPB is moving forward in 2025 to replace our pension administration systems (PAS), which are nearing the end of their life, with upgraded, modern systems. In 2024, we achieved key milestones in our systems modernization journey.
Selected vendor for our new retirement planner, expected to launch in 2025.
In 2025, we will select the vendor for our new PAS and develop a multi-year implementation plan.
Looking ahead, we continue to move forward on our long-term strategic plan, which, by transforming and updating our foundational systems to improve plan sustainability, will deliver tangible benefits to members and enhance oversight while boosting operational effectiveness by:
Embracing technological advancements to meet evolving client needs and continue delivering exceptional services.
Enhancing our systems to drive digital-first services that align with changing client expectations by proactively providing tailored client experiences.
Advancing operational excellence and efficiency by improving the effectiveness of our processes and driving innovation.
Strengthening our investment performance to help secure lasting retirement security for our members.
