news Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan 2008 loss $21.1B or 18 per cent: shortfall $2.5B

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Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan 2008 loss $21.1B or 18 per cent: shortfall $2.5B



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By The Canadian Press


TORONTO - The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan has reported a 2008 asset decline of $21.1 billion or 18 per cent, leaving a funding shortfall of $2.5 billion.

The fund, investing on behalf of 284,000 active and retired teachers, said today that it ended 2008 with assets of $87.4 billion, down from a record $108.5 billion at the close of 2007.

Last year's overall return of minus 18 per cent was in line with other big Canadian pension plans but underperformed the 9.6 per cent loss of the fund's investment benchmark.

Teachers' president Jim Leech said his investment team "fought hard against the downward pressure of the global credit freeze and subsequent stock, bond and real estate market crashes throughout the year, but market forces retained the upper hand at year-end."

The fund added that its current $2.5-billion shortfall of assets against future liabilities "will grow unless the investment climate turns sharply positive."