Bell Canada’s defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans are both overseen by the same pension committee.

The meeting cadences differ, but the committee leans on its DB knowledge to make sure it’s addressing similar risks in the DC plan, says Robert Marchessault, the organization’s director of pensions and benefits.

For the DB plan, which meets three times a year, committee members dig into the investment and de-risking strategy. And for the DC plan, which meets just once annually, they’re looking to assess whether the investment options will provide members with a sufficient income replacement ratio at retirement and determine if there are any new funds to include in the plan.

Read: 2025 DC Plan Summit: How Bell Canada incorporated plan sponsor guidance into DC plan design

“On the DB side, [for] every risk we have, we have a solution that [addresses] at least part of the risk. Certainly, it’s education around the risk that [committee members] learn from a DB plan and apply it to a DC perspective.”

CAPSA guiding the way

With the Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authorities’ updated capital accumulation plan guidelines putting an increased focus on stronger DC plan governance, there’s plenty DC plan committees can learn from their DB counterparts.

“When I think about the DC plan committees we work with that are great, effective and take their jobs seriously, I can’t tell the difference between how they operate and a good DB plan committee,” says Brendan George, a partner at Convyta Partners LP.

With the shift from DB to DC, a lot of DC plans were set up to move away from the........

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