Canadian Pension Rankings
How would you rank the Canadian pensions in terms of comp, prestige, career outlook?
PSP, BCI, OTPP, CPP, CPDQ, AIMCO, OMERS, HOOPP.
Trending Content - Private Equity Forum
| +142 | What’s “the path” now? | 56 | 1d |
| +105 | Is Everyone Too Bearish on PE? | 34 | 6h |
| +48 | Why would anyone do PE in long term in 2026? | 13 | 1d |
| +37 | 3rd Year IB Analyst, Top Bucket, Still No PE Offer. What Would You Do? | 19 | 1d |
| +25 | Is This Normal in LLM PE | 10 | 5d |
| +24 | Q&A: What It’s Actually Like Working at an Independent (Fundless) Sponsor | 4 | 2d |
| +21 | UMM PE or High Paying Strat Finance? | 13 | 21h |
| +21 | Striking out in last rounds | 2 | 4d |
| +15 | Overwhelmed by amount of data / granularity | 3 | 2d |
| +15 | DELETE | 1 | 1d |
Career Resources
OTPP / CPP > OMERS / BCI > PSP / HOOPP / CDPQ > AIMco / IMco
Not really sure about PSP & CDPQ though
CPP is slightly above OTPP and think u have BCI a bit too high
Good to know
How would you change the rankings to consider the BCI and CPP change.
My unofficial ranking, as someone that works at one of the Tier 1Bs below and turned an offer down from a Tier 1A (not the industry I wanted). The Tier 1As have the best brand and reputation, but some of the 1Bs are in line / close on comp and have better career progression opportunities (as the 1As are very top heavy and bloated)L
Tier 1A: CPP, OMERS, OTPP
Tier 1B: BCI, HOOPP, PSP, CDPQ
Tier 2: AIMCo, IMCO, OPTrust
I rank this based on the factors you mentioned above, but I think misses big factors such as WLB and investment focus / investment style. If you factor that in, I would move some of the Tier 1Bs into the Tier 1A also.
For your holistic list (inclusive of WLB, etc.), what would you categorize as top 3?
Want to caveat I feel like we're splitting hairs and some of this is anecdotal / personal, but I would put CPP and OMERS as the top 2, with probably OTPP as third but put HOOPP and BCI very close / maybe even tied.
Reasons being CPP is the largest with the biggest reputation and OMERS is the only pension in Canada that acts like a true GP (as in, majority of their deals are control deals led by themselves / without a partner). OTPP as a third as they're running into the most capital allocation issues I hear (given teacher member base is getting really old not growing fast enough) and anecdotally, promotions are a bit slower / harder to get than other places. HOOPP seems to have good WLB and comp from what I hear, and BCI I've heard is very decent WLB and really quick promos - but there's no Toronto office.
Edit: Didn't comment on PSP or CDPQ as I don't know enough about them and don't know anyone personally at those firms, given I'm based in Toronto. Those two places are active and do direct investing also so would be comparable to HOOPP and BCI - see my earlier comment on the Tier 1Bs.
Do you have a view on AIMCo? Do you know how comp at smaller pensions like AIMCo compare against the CPPs/OMERS/etc.?
I don't have any first-hand info, but I've heard from different sources that they are in range, but on the low-side of pension market comp. However, I hear they chill pretty hard so on a $ / hour basis, that's still pretty fair to me. Think they might be full WFH too so thats a plus
Any idea of associate/senior associate comp ranges for tier 1 A/B base and all in ?
Comp in Toronto besides the globals and Onex/Altas/Brookfield are all generally inline with each other as HR coordinates with each other. So the top pensions comp should track big 5 so around $200-$300k depending on seniority and performance
Can anyone comment on AIMCo? looking to join them next year.
Fuga eos et quaerat est est velit voluptatem. Totam corporis consequatur et ut sunt id. Natus in eum eius vel voluptatem aperiam.
Quod nobis similique vel at. Ipsa quo dolores esse illum.
In recusandae sapiente omnis et modi similique et. Et occaecati ducimus fugit ut. Aut qui quia vel qui. Eos itaque aliquam ea excepturi qui eos voluptas. Possimus saepe placeat dolore.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...