[author: Heather Di Dio]
Two years ago Ontario pension legislation was changed to provide for new rules that will make asset transfers and the merger of two or more pension plans much simpler. These are welcome changes since it has been expensive, and sometimes legally impossible, to merge pension plans under the current rules.
Unfortunately, employers cannot proceed under the new rules yet. Specific regulations are required to implement them. The Ontario government announced in its 2012 budget that these regulations would be released this spring, but we haven’t seen anything yet. Plan sponsors wishing to take advantage of the simpler asset transfer and plan merger rules will have to wait a bit longer.
