Weighed down by real estate losses, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board returned 6.5% in fiscal 2026, well off its benchmark’s 11.7% return. The gain raised its asset value to C$320.6 billion ($228.4 billion), up from C$300 billion a year earlier.
The pension fund attributed the underperformance to macroeconomic trends that “created a more challenging environment for private markets,” adding that the use of public-market-based benchmarks can diverge from private asset performance over shorter time horizons. Currency movements erased 2.2% from its return during the fiscal year, partially offsetting the 5.8% currency gain from fiscal 2025.
“Despite heightened volatility and uncertainty, PSP Investments delivered solid results and continued to strengthen the long-term funding position of the pension plans we support,” PSP Investments’ president and CEO, Deborah Orida, said in a statement. “Our long-term results, the stability of the returns, and the funding of the plans are the best indicators of how we are fulfilling our role as a pension investor.”
Public equities were the top-performing asset class in the PSP portfolio with a robust 20.6% return for the fiscal year that ended March 31, followed by infrastructure investments, which earned 10.1%. On the other end of the performance spectrum, the real estate portfolio lost 7.3%, and PSP’s fixed-income holdings gained a meager 2.3% for the year.
PSP also registered a 10-year net annualized return of 8.8%, led by its infrastructure assets, which have gained 12.7% over the same period, followed by public equites and private equity, which earned 12.3% and 12%, respectively. The pension fund also reported that its operating costs ratio decreased to 24.7 basis points from 27.9 bps in the previous year.
“These measures are best assessed over a full market cycle,” Orida said in the statement. “Our portfolio remains well positioned to deliver long-term value.”
PSP Investments manages retirement benefits for the federal public services, the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Reserve Force.
PSP Performance
A breakdown by asset-class allocations over time.
| Asset Class | Assets Under Management* | One-Year Return | Five-Year Return | Ten-Year Return |
| Public Market Equities | C$92.8B | 20.6% | 11.4% | 12.3% |
| Fixed Income | C$71.8B | 2.3% | 3.0% | 3.2% |
| Private Equity | C$39.1B | 5.3% | 12.7% | 12.0% |
| Credit Investments | C$35.1B | 3.1% | 10.5% | 11.1% |
| Real Estate | C$27.8B | (7.3)% | (0.5)% | 2.8% |
| Infrastructure | C$32.0B | 10.1% | 15.0% | 12.7% |
| Natural Resources | C$19.7B | 2.4% | 8.3% | 8.7% |
*Asset performance excludes cash and cash equivalents.
Source: PSP Investments
Tags: Asset Allocation, Deborah Orida, investment performance, PSP Investments, Public Sector Pension Investment Board