The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Canadian defined-benefit pension plans collectively suffered their largest losses since the 2008 financial crisis in 2022, recording a median decline in assets of 10.3 per cent despite a partial recovery in the final months of the year, according to a survey from Royal Bank of Canada. The Globe's James Bradshaw writes that pension assets suffered heavy losses in the first two quarters of 2022 before starting to recover in the back half of the year. In the final quarter, pension assets returned 3.8 per cent, as measured by the RBC Investor and Treasury Services All Plan Universe, which serves as a benchmark for performance. Pension plan investors were battered by unusually volatile markets driven by high inflation and rapidly rising interest rates: Both stocks and bonds returned losses, instead of helping offset each other, as had been the convention. Although plans earned positive returns to finish the year, they are facing many of the same pressures in 2023. Canadian pension plans' bond portfolios had median losses of 16.8 per cent in 2022 -- the largest annual decline in more than 30 years -- and also trailed the benchmark FTSE Canada Bond Index.