Despite Hype, Pension Management Outsourcing Not Popular

While talk of fiduciary management has been on the rise, a new survey by consultant bfinance shows that pension plans are unlikely to use plan outsourcing anytime soon.

 

(September 17, 2009) – Despite the hype, a new survey suggests that fund outsourcing is far from the minds of most fund managers.

 


According to an August/September survey by manager search consultancy bfinance that polled 88 managers in 10 countries, 91% of fund managers have no intention of altering their governance structure. Even more surprisingly, given the hype surrounding fiduciary management, not one respondent claimed that they plan to switch to a fiduciary provider. Nine percent said that they “might” do so. These numbers show a more-than-healthy skepticism toward placing the risk of pension funding with a third party.

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Instead, the survey finds, pension funds are more likely to turn to consultants. Of the respondents, 24% said that they plan on asking consultants for strategic advice; 18% stated that they would need help with manager selection. Other uses for consultants were monitoring and reporting (12%), benchmark selection (11%), risk budgeting (7%), portfolio construction (7%), and custody services (5%).

 


The survey respondents represent corporate pension schemes (34%),  public pension schemes (30%), and endowments (10%); they ranged in size from $200 million to nearly $30 billion in assets.



To contact the <em>aiCIO</em> editor of this story: Kristopher McDaniel at <a href='mailto:kmcdaniel@assetinternational.com'>kmcdaniel@assetinternational.com</a>

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