According to an RBC Dexia survey taken in October, 89 per cent of defined benefit plan sponsors believed that Canada's pension system is either poorly positioned or average when it comes to Canada's future pension prospects.

Although 41 per cent of respondents cited investment risk as the type of risk they are most concerned with, shortfall risk - the risk of pensions not generating sufficient returns to offset obligations - ranked a close second, at 36 per cent, the survey found.

Operational risk, selected by eight per cent of respondents as their primary risk factor, appears to be less of a concern among sponsors, relative to investment and shortfall risk.

Asked to identify their single biggest challenge in 2010, almost half of plan sponsors indicated that their main focus would be on aligning future liabilities with assets, while 38 per cent said they expected low returns to continue to be a significant challenge.

Seven per cent of respondents believed the introduction of a new style of pension plan accounting standards - international financial reporting standards - will be their biggest challenge in 2010 while four per cent believed it to be understanding new instruments and alternative investments.

While plan sponsors were generally pessimistic about the current Canadian pension system, the survey revealed that 72 per cent of respondents rank Canada's pension system as equal to, or better than other systems globally.

Only eight per cent of respondents considered the Canadian system to be inferior to its global counterparts, the survey found.