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Pension Fund Expense Benchmarks

The Pension Fund Expense Benchmark Report is designed to support effective plan governance by providing sponsors of registered pension plans with an objective benchmark to evaluate their plan operating expenses. The Report provides a series of expense benchmarks including predictive values derived from a statistical analysis of a wide range of plans as well as the actual expenses observed in relevant comparator groups.

We create personalized benchmarking reports that provide:

  • An expected Total Expense number based on Fraser Group’s Expense Model
  • A breakdown of Expected Investment and Administrative Expense ratios
  • A Comparison of your Distribution of Expenses to those of similarly-sized plans in the Fraser Group Database of Canadian Pension Plans.

Since its inception in 2010, the Pension Fund Expense Benchmarking database has accumulated detailed expense information from more than 200 Canadian Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution pension plans in the public and private sectors.

Download a sample copy of the Benchmark Report

How To Order

Download and complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire collects expenses as recorded in the audited financial statements of the plans as well as costs absorbed by Plan Sponsors.

Completed questionnaires should be emailed to Fraser Group. Your custom Benchmark Report will be available within 5-7 business days.

The Cost of the Pension Fund Expense Benchmark Report is $965 (plus GST/HST).

Custom Analyses

Additional analyses are available for Plan Sponsors looking for more insight into their plan costs or those with special circumstances. Customized database extracts and modifications to the standard reporting can be applied to address individual needs. Please contact us for more details or to receive a quote.

About the Database and Model

The Fraser Group database consists of over 500 observations from over 200 Canadian Registered Pension Plans. Data collected from contributing participants and publicly available audited financial statements is reviewed and processed by Fraser Group for accuracy and consistency with our database definitions.

The Pension Fund Expense Benchmark Model uses multiple regression techniques on the Fraser Group database to build a hypothetical universe of plans used to determine an Expected Expense Ratio. The Model uses Assets, Member Counts, Plan Type (Defined Benefit vs Defined Contribution), Industry Sector (Public vs Private For-Profit and Private Non-Profit), and Jurisdiction as primary variables. The Total Expense Ratio is calculated as a sum of two Expected Expense figures – Investment Expenses and Administration Expenses. Confidence intervals provided have been adjusted for the covariance between Investment and Administration Expenses.