Strategy: We Are Member Driven

At OPTrust, our mission is to pay pensions today and preserve pensions for tomorrow for the almost 87,000 members and pensioners who rely on us for their retirement. At the heart of OPTrust’s promise to members is certainty, sustainability and stability: our members need to know they can count on their pension to be there when they retire and that their contributions and benefits will remain as stable as possible.

A stable future

Ensuring certainty, sustainability and stability has never been more challenging – as the Plan matures, we face an external environment marked by ongoing market volatility, economic uncertainty and persistent low interest rates. Such challenges demand enhanced strategies that allow long-term pension investors like OPTrust to adapt to – and even thrive in – this new world.

To get us there, we developed a "member-driven investing" (MDI) strategy that enables us to deliver the certainty, sustainability and stability our members need.

Redefining success, creating alignment

In our MDI framework, success is based on earning a return high enough to maintain Plan sustainability while employing risk purposefully and efficiently to maintain stable benefit and contribution levels.

We are shifting our mindset as investors from viewing ourselves as asset managers to being a pension management organization. Going forward, our success will be measured by a new set of performance metrics that will closely link portfolio construction and management with the Plan’s funding risks. Our metrics have been designed to create strong alignment between members' interests and our activities.

While we believe that our MDI approach is the best way for OPTrust to deliver on the pension promise for the long term, our member-driven philosophy extends throughout the organization to create alignment in all of our activities.

Responsible investing is integral to our MDI strategy and covers a wide-range of activities – from engaging public companies and regulators to advocating for clear climate change policy and building strong relationships with peer institutions across the globe. At OPTrust, we keep our members’ interests in mind when making investment decisions. More information about OPTrust’s responsible investing program and approach can be found in our 2015 Responsible Investing Report.

Service excellence to members is a key part of our mission – in fact, it defines everything we do. It is an integral part of being a member-driven organization. Our service philosophy continues to evolve from a focus on transactions to a holistic approach that ensures we consistently educate and empower our members. We continually seek to connect with and serve members in ways that are meaningful and useful to them, whether it’s developing new online videos or additional tools and resources to help them make informed decisions and understand their pension plan.

Paying pensions today and preserving pensions for tomorrow is both a great privilege and a great responsibility. We believe that adopting a member-driven approach is key to our success and our ability to deliver results for the Plan’s members and pensioners.