Administration November 15, 2012

LDI Strategies Grow in Complexity

November 15, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – More than half (57%) of corporate pension sponsors continue to use liability-driven investing (LDI), an SEI poll found.
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According to SEI’s Annual Global Liability Driven Investing Poll, among those organizations using LDI, more than half (52%) invest greater than 40% of their portfolios in an LDI strategy.  

As LDI continues to be an important risk management strategy, implementation has evolved to provide a more sophisticated match of the plan’s duration of assets to liabilities. According to the U.S. findings of the poll, two-thirds (67%) of participating organizations currently use an LDI strategy, 10% more than the global average. One-third (33%) implement LDI via an overlay of treasury strips and swaps, and 31% have a glidepath with automatic triggers.  

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The top three most important criteria for implementing a successful LDI strategy cited by U.S. respondents are: 

  • Framework incorporates funded status, benefit stream and duration of exposures (86%); 
  • Strategy incorporates organization’s risk tolerance and key corporate sensitivities (71%); and 
  • Liability is matched in a more sophisticated and highly customized way (67%).

As LDI increases in complexity, many plan sponsors are evaluating the types of providers they partner with for pension investment management. More than one-third (35%) of U.S. poll participants said their organizations use or would consider using a fiduciary manager or investment outsourcing provider. Of those currently using a traditional consultant, 40% said they would consider making a change to an investment outsourcing provider within the next three years. Additionally, of those organizations currently using only internal staff for pension management, 41% also said they would consider outsourcing by 2015. 

The global poll was conducted by SEI’s Pension Management Research Panel and included 125 corporate pension executives from the United States, Canada, Netherlands and United Kingdom. None of the participating organizations are institutional clients of SEI.

For the complete poll summary with U.S. highlights, visit www.seic.com/ldi-poll. For a summary with Canadian highlights, visit www.seic.com/ldi-poll-ca. 

Deals and People November 15, 2012

Great-West Hires Sales Director in Northwest

November 15, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Great-West Retirement Services (GWRS) appointed Andrew Howard as regional sales director for the Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia, Washington markets.
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In this newly created position, Howard will work with brokers, financial advisers, consultants, wire houses and third-party administrators(TPAs) to offer GWRS 401(k) plans and services to businesses located in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and throughout the Olympic Peninsula. Howard is based in Seattle and reports to Ken Munro, Western Region vice president.   

Howard joins GWRS from The Hartford, where he spent the past nine years as regional sales director for its northwest region. While at The Hartford, he was a participant in the company’s Emerging Leaders sales management program. Prior to The Hartford, he was a retirement plans sales manager for Mutual of Omaha from 2000 to 2003.  

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Howard has a bachelor’s degree in History from Western Washington University. He holds FINRA Series 6 and 63 licenses and health and life insurance licenses in Washington and Alaska. He is a member of the Western Pension & Benefits Conference, Seattle chapter.

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