Delegated investment by pension schemes enters the mainstream, says Aon Hewitt

Oct. 17, 2011 - PRLog -- Aon Hewitt, the global human resource consulting and outsourcing business of Aon Corporation , has released findings from the 2011 Aon Hewitt Delegated Investment Survey which shows that delegated investment, also known as Fiduciary Management, has become more widely accepted in the UK.  Almost one in five respondents to the survey (17%) reported that their pension scheme had already delegated investment decision-making and implementation to a third-party provider. A further 8% of the survey sample said that they intend to explore opportunities to delegate.

The survey of 299 pension trustees, pension managers and others was conducted in June 2011.  Its findings are in keeping with the sentiment highlighted in Aon Hewitt’s 2010 Delegated Investment Survey which showed that a quarter of respondents wanted to delegate investment decisions in one of the three key areas of asset allocation, swaps and manager selection.  

Notably, this year’s findings suggest that continued market turbulence has accelerated the acceptance of delegated investment as a mainstream offering.  Some 40% of responses to the survey focused on speed of investment decision making and investment implementation as the priority drivers of delegation.  Turbulent markets are acknowledged as requiring greater investment conviction and market agility.  
Respondents went on to say that  factors hindering scheme agility were typically the frequency of trustee meetings, the time resource available for dedicating to investment issues and matters relating to governance structures.

This shows a significant change since 2010 when 46% of respondents cited trustee knowledge and understanding as the primary driver to delegation.  

John Rushen, UK Head of Investment Consulting at Aon Hewitt, said:

“It is true that governance structures can stymie a scheme's ability to act swiftly on investment irrespective of trustee commitment and the complexity of today’s investment landscape is felt to compound the issue.  But, the opportunity cost of sluggish execution is only heightened by periods of significant market volatility, such as we are currently seeing.  

“As predicted last year, market volatility therefore remains a critical factor for pension schemes.  It can erode confidence in the decision being tabled, but then also makes the timing of execution critical.  When the market moves several percentage points a day, opportunities to capture value come and go.  Market timing requires focus, skill and conviction if the outcome for the scheme is to be positive."

This year's survey also shows that, in the absence of delegation, the opportunity to reduce risk and optimise performance through asset class diversification continues to present trustees with significant challenges.  Some 43% of small schemes and 43% of medium schemes are invested in no more than three asset classes. However, just 8% of respondents cited risk diversification as a key driver in chosing to delegate.  

John Rushen continued:

“It's disappointing that there has been little movement in the hours spent on investment issues or number of investment experts on trustee boards since last year’s survey.  When you are spending less than 20 hours a quarter on investment matters, trying to reduce market exposure through wider asset allocation can be a daunting prospect.  Putting more assets in the mix requires greater monitoring and judgement.”  

“But, diversification at the asset class level or in terms of strategies and styles can further reduce portfolio volatility and we expect this to become a more prominent driver of delegation in the near term.”

Globally, Aon Hewitt currently has 70 schemes with delegated assets under management of more than £10billion.  

- Ends -

Notes to Editors

Copies of the 2011 Aon Hewitt Delegated Investment Survey are available from www.aonhewitt.com

About Aon Hewitt

Aon Hewitt is the global leader in human resource consulting and outsourcing solutions.  The company partners with organisations to solve their most complex benefits, talent and related financial challenges, and improve business performance.  Aon Hewitt designs, implements, communicates and administers a wide range of human capital, retirement, investment management, fiduciary management, health care, compensation and talent management strategies.  With more than 29,000 professionals in 90 countries, Aon Hewitt makes the world a better place to work for clients and their employees.  For more information on Aon Hewitt, please visit www.aonhewitt.com.

About Aon

Aon Corporation  is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human capital solutions and outsourcing. Through its more than 59,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to deliver distinctive client value via innovative and effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions. Aon's industry-leading global resources and technical expertise are delivered locally in over 120 countries. Named the world's best broker by Euromoney magazine's 2008, 2009 and 2010 Insurance Survey, Aon also ranked highest on Business Insurance's listing of the world's insurance brokers based on commercial retail, wholesale, reinsurance and personal lines brokerage revenues in 2008 and 2009. A.M. Best deemed Aon the number one insurance broker based on revenues in 2007, 2008 and 2009, and Aon was voted best insurance intermediary 2007-2010, best reinsurance intermediary 2006-2010, best captives manager 2009-2010, and best employee benefits consulting firm 2007-2009 by the readers of Business Insurance. Visit http://www.aon.com for more information on Aon and http://www.aon.com/manchesterunited to learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.

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