The Canadian Big-Eight pensions, side by side.
What the most recent published numbers actually show.
CPP Investments closed fiscal 2026 at $793.3 billion. CDPQ closed 2025 at CAD $517.3 billion. PSP closed fiscal 2025 at $299.7 billion. OTPP closed 2025 at $279.4 billion. BCI closed fiscal 2025 at $251.6 billion in net AUM. AIMCo closed 2025 at $194.7 billion. OMERS closed 2025 at $145.2 billion. HOOPP closed 2025 at $132 billion. Together: roughly $2.6 trillion in Canadian institutional capital, with the most recent year's returns ranging from 6.0% to 13.2%.
The Canadian Big-Eight pension cohort is the structural backbone of the country’s institutional buy-side. Three of them (CPP Investments, CDPQ, PSP) sit in the top twenty of the world’s largest asset owners. Two more (OTPP, BCI) sit just outside that group at the next tier. The remaining three (AIMCo, OMERS, HOOPP) anchor the second tier of Canadian institutional capital. Read together, the most recent published figures from each of them give the cleanest cross-sectional read of the Canadian institutional posture available today.
This piece is that cross-sectional read.
The headline table.
All figures from each manager’s most recent published results. Fiscal-year endings vary; the column “as at” makes the basis explicit.
| Manager | As at | Net assets / AUM | 1-year return | 10-year annualized | Funded status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPP Investments | March 31, 2026 (F2026) | $793.3B | 7.8% (FY) / 7.7% (CY 2025) | 8.8% | Confirmed sustainable by OCA Dec 2025 review[1] |
| CDPQ (La Caisse) | December 31, 2025 | CAD $517.3B | 9.3% | 7.2% | Not directly published[3] |
| PSP Investments | March 31, 2025 (F2025) | $299.7B | not captured in current extract; +13.2% AUM YoY | from F2025 Annual Report (PDF) | n/a (multi-plan investor)[2] |
| Ontario Teachers’ (OTPP) | December 31, 2025 | $279.4B | 6.7% | 6.8% | 111% (13th consecutive year fully funded)[4] |
| BCI | March 31, 2025 (F2025) | Net $251.6B / Gross $295B | 10.0% | 7.4% | 103-133% across six pension clients[5] |
| AIMCo | December 31, 2025 | $194.7B (AUM) | 7.5% (Total Fund) / 7.6% (Balanced) | 7.2% | n/a (multi-client manager)[6] |
| OMERS | December 31, 2025 | $145.2B | 6.0% | 7.1% | 99%[7] |
| HOOPP | December 31, 2025 | $132B | 7.7% (5.3% real) | 7.8% | 109%[8] |
| Sum (current as-at) | mixed | ~CAD $2.6T | — | — | — |
A few notes on the table.
Period mismatch is real. CPP Investments and PSP report on a fiscal year ending March 31; BCI reports on a fiscal year ending March 31 (F2025 closed before CPP’s F2026, hence the older period); the rest are calendar years ending December 31. Cross-comparing one-year returns across the cohort is therefore not strictly like-for-like, because the periods do not overlap. The honest read is structural: shape of the allocators, not horse-race ranking.
Funded status is reported differently. OTPP and HOOPP publish a single funded ratio and a calendar-year cadence. BCI publishes a range across six pension clients (103% to 133%). OMERS publishes 99%. CPP Investments’ sustainability is reported through the Office of the Chief Actuary’s triennial reviews, not as a year-end funded ratio in the same sense as the single-purpose plans. AIMCo and PSP serve multiple clients each and do not publish a single funded ratio at the manager level.
The benchmark gap is widespread. Of the Canadian Big-Eight where a 1-year benchmark comparison is published, six underperformed:
| Manager | 1-year actual | 1-year benchmark | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPP Investments (F2026) | 7.8% | 13.2% | -5.4%[1] |
| OTPP (2025) | 6.7% | 11.7% | -5.0%[4] |
| CDPQ (2025) | 9.3% | 10.9% | -1.6%[3] |
| OMERS (10-year) | 7.1% | 7.3% | -0.2%[7] |
| AIMCo (Balanced/Total) | 7.5%-7.6% | underperformed by 2.7% | -2.7%[6] |
| BCI (1-year) | 10.0% | 12.3% | -2.3%[5] |
HOOPP outperformed its 10-year benchmark by 1.9 percentage points (7.8% vs 5.9%)[8] and is the standout on the long-horizon view.
CPP Investments’ own framing is the cleanest explanation for the widespread gap, and the cohort frames it similarly: “Significant concentration in public equities, with relatively heavier exposure to large-cap technology and communication services companies largely tied to artificial intelligence, were the principal drivers of benchmark portfolio performance in fiscal 2026.”[1] AIMCo’s CIO Justin Lord names the same dynamic on the public side, “buoyed by investor confidence in artificial intelligence-related capital investments and increased earnings expectations,“[6] while OTPP and BCI both cite challenged private-asset benchmarks tied to public-market proxies.[4][5] The cohort is reading the same story.
What the asset-class returns say.
For the four managers that publish a clean asset-class breakdown for the most recent period, the patterns are consistent.
| Asset class | OTPP 2025 | AIMCo 2025 | BCI F2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public equity | 15.0% | 19.4% | 12.6% Canadian / 14.3% Global / 12.8% EM |
| Fixed income | 2.6% | 1.0% | 6.9% (Nominal Bonds) / 8.3% (Short-term) |
| Private equity | -5.3% | 3.0% | 13.4% |
| Real estate | -3.1% | -2.2% | -1.8% (Equity) / 6.1% (Debt) |
| Infrastructure | 1.8% | 3.3% | 8.3% |
| Credit / Private debt | 5.8% | 5.8% (Mortgages) / 7.9% (Private Debt) | 10.2% |
The cross-manager signals:
- Public equities outperformed across the cohort. Two-digit returns, unsurprising given the AI-tied benchmark drivers named above.
- Private equity divides the cohort. BCI returned 13.4%, AIMCo 3.0%, and OTPP -5.3% on the same calendar window. The BCI fiscal year ended March 31, 2025 and uses IRR with assets valued as at December 31, 2024; the OTPP and AIMCo numbers reflect December 31, 2025 valuations. The marking choices and valuation dates explain part of the spread.
- Real estate is negative everywhere it is published. OTPP -3.1%, AIMCo -2.2%, BCI -1.8%. The pattern is the same across the cohort: valuations adjusting to higher discount rates and a still-cautious occupier picture for office and some retail.
- Infrastructure is positive but modest. All three above are positive; the BCI 8.3% is the standout, reflecting the IRR methodology applied to a December 31, 2024 valuation date that predates some of the 2025 weakness.
What this column tracks from here on the cohort.
Three watch items for the next year.
- The 2026 fiscal results from CPP Investments and PSP (March 31, 2026 year-end), which release in May and June 2026. Whether the benchmark gap narrows or persists into a second full year of the AI-tied benchmark concentration is the cohort-level signal worth marking. The CPP Investments F2026 print is in the library; PSP F2026 is not yet out at the time of writing.
- OMERS’ funded-ratio progression. 99% is the lowest funded ratio in the Big-Eight and the only one not above 100%.[7] Real discount rate of 3.70% gives the technical context; the cohort conversation will be whether the 2026 result lifts the funded ratio past 100% or whether contribution-rate / benefit conversations follow.
- The nation-building investment conversation. OTPP’s press release names “constructive engagement with the federal government to discuss ‘nation building’ projects and the Ontario government to consider large investments meant to bolster economic development. Discussions on investments from Ontario Teachers’ in these projects are ongoing.”[4] HOOPP separately notes 49% of its Fund is already invested in Canada.[8] The cohort-wide domestic-allocation conversation is moving; the Big-Eight readouts over the next year will surface it.
Methodology notes.
- All figures in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted, per each manager’s published convention.
- AIMCo and PSP serve multiple client mandates rather than a single pension plan; manager-level returns are the cleanest cross-cohort comparison but they aggregate underlying-client mixes.
- BCI’s “combined pension plan return” reflects the six largest pension clients only (BC Hydro, College, Municipal, Public Service, Teachers’, WorkSafeBC), not BCI’s total AUM.[5]
- PSP F2025 one-year return is not captured in the current extract; a follow-up Manager Watch piece will pull the F2025 Annual Report PDF directly. The $299.7B net AUM and +13.2% YoY AUM growth come from the report cover page snippets.
The Big-Eight Manager Watch primer series is in flight: CPPIB and OTPP primers are in the archive; CDPQ, BCI, AIMCo, OMERS, HOOPP, and PSP each get the same structural treatment over the next four weeks.
Comments and pointers to coverage worth folding in at [email protected].
Sources
- CPP Investments, CPP Investments Net Assets Total $793.3 Billion at 2026 Fiscal Year End, press release, Toronto, 21 May 2026. https://www.cppinvestments.com/newsroom/cpp-investments-net-assets-total-793-3-billion-at-2026-fiscal-year-end/. Saved as
cppib-f2026-net-assets-press-2026-05-29.mdinpensions/2026/. - PSP Investments, 2025 Annual Report (PDF). https://www.investpsp.com/media/filer_public/03-our-performance/annual-report-2025/pdf/PSP-2025-annual-report-en.pdf. AUM and YoY growth from publisher report cover page snippets; saved note at
pensions/2025/psp-fiscal-2025-2026-05-29.md. - La Caisse / CDPQ, Performance: Generating sustainable value, performance page, results as at 31 December 2025. https://www.cdpq.com/en/performance. Saved as
cdpq-2025-performance-2026-05-29.md. - Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Ontario Teachers’ announces positive 2025 results, press release, Toronto, 10 March 2026. https://www.otpp.com/en-ca/about-us/news-and-insights/2026/ontario-teachers-announces-positive-2025-results/. Saved as
otpp-2025-results-press-2026-05-29.md. - British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), BCI achieves 10% annual return in fiscal 2025, press release, Victoria, BC, 25 June 2025. https://www.bci.ca/news/article/bci-achieves-10-annual-return-in-fiscal-2025/. Saved as
bci-fiscal-2025-press-2026-05-29.mdinpensions/2025/. - Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), AIMCo Delivers 7.6% Investment Return in 2025, news release. https://www.aimco.ca/insights/aimco-delivers-7-6-investment-return-in-2025. Saved as
aimco-2025-results-2026-05-29.mdinpensions/2026/. - Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), 2025 Annual Report Highlights. https://www.omers.com/2025-annual-report/highlights. Net asset figure ($145.2B end-2025) confirmed from the linked 2025 Annual Report PDF on assets.ctfassets.net. Saved as
omers-2025-highlights-2026-05-29.mdinpensions/2026/. - Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), HOOPP delivers strong 2025 results for Ontario’s healthcare community, press release, Toronto, 10 March 2026. https://hoopp.com/news-and-insights/newsroom/newsroom-details/hoopp-delivers-strong-2025-results-for-ontario-s-healthcare-community. Saved as
hoopp-2025-results-press-2026-05-29.mdinpensions/2026/.