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Ontario is set to ease rules for its pension funds as years of low interest rates, poor equity returns and a looming retiree glut pressure companies, according to government officials with knowledge of the matter.

The biggest of a complex series of proposals would reduce the so-called “solvency funding” requirement of certain plans to 85 per cent from 100 per cent, the officials said, asking not to be identified before an official announcement due Friday. That means companies would be in compliance if they had enough to pay 85 cents on the dollar if they were wound-up immediately.

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The changes come a year after Canada’s most populous province began a review of funding needs for pension sponsors, after having to provide temporary relief in 2009 and 2012 to offset plunging global returns. The measures are subject to consultation, will be formally proposed in legislation this fall and would take effect in 2018, an Ontario election year.