While an outsourced chief investment officer model may be the right option for a pension plan under particular circumstances, circumstances can change. Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co. took on an OCIO structure several years ago, but changes within the company made the model less appropriate over time, said Wes Peters, the company’s vice-president of investments, during […]
While it’s easy for a plan sponsor to determine how an equity or fixed income manager is performing, it isn’t as straightforward to assess the performance of an outsourced chief investment officer. “There’s a lot of similarities in OCIO providers out there, but there’s also a lot of differences,” said Eric Menzer, global head of […]
The outsourced chief investment officer market could be reaching its natural maturity, according to a new survey by Cerulli Associates Inc. Globally, OCIO assets under management nearly reached US$2 trillion at the end of 2018. While the U.S. experienced 7.8 per cent growth over the past year, the report noted growth may prove more modest in the coming […]
Mercer Canada has appointed Rachel Volynsky as its new chief investment officer. In the new role, Volynsky will be leading Mercer’s outsourced chief investment officer team in Canada. With more than 20 years of capital allocation experience, she has held several senior roles with major investment firms in Canada and the United States, including SEI Investments and […]
Outsourced chief investment officers, or OCIOs, are a service model where a pension plan sponsor or other institutional investor delegates certain decision-making responsibilities to a third party OCIO provider. Once the asset owner makes the original delegation, the OCIO implements, monitors and executes the investment and risk management strategies, within agreed upon parameters. Here are […]
Compared to the preceding years, 2019 appears to be the year of steady when it comes to progress on hot topics that resonated in the industry in 2017 and 2018. While no single topic has disappeared from the slate, neither have any new ones risen to become topics of urgency among consultants. “Last year, we […]
When Gary Timlick joined the Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co. as its senior vice-president, chief financial officer and pension committee chair, it had no formal investment department. With responsibility for managing corporate investments and pension assets resting solely on Timlick, he began a journey to build up an investment team. Though it was a relatively new […]
The outsourced chief investment officer market is growing with low barriers to entry contributing to the number of players of all sizes in the space, according to research by U.S.-based institutional investment consulting firm Callan. In evaluating the work of an OCIO, plan sponsors and other institutional investors should go well beyond simply looking at investment results, noted the research. “While […]
An outsourced chief investment officer provides external expertise that can ease the minds of plan sponsors overwhelmed by pension management decisions. While the services have traditionally been used by defined benefit plans, do they translate to defined contribution plan management? John Jenner, vice-president of finance at Electrozad: Although today’s world is geographically the same size […]
Willis Towers Watson has completed its acquisition of Integra Capital Ltd., a Canadian investment management company. “Our multiyear partnership with Integra Capital has been successful in delivering exceptional delegated solutions to clients,” said Kemp Ross, global head of delegated investment solutions at Willis Towers Watson. Read: Willis Towers Watson to acquire Canadian investment manager Following the […]