The Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, the largest public pension plan in Canada, has made provision for a writedown of C$500m (€343m) on investments that are ultimately backed by sub-prime US home loans.

Henri-Paul Rousseau, chief executive of the €163bn pension scheme, told the Québécois provincial assembly yesterday that of its €9.2bn investments in asset-backed commercial paper, only about €687m was exposed to US sub-prime loans. Half of that exposure will be written off.