OCIO
Highly customised solutions
In this full scale service we either work with (or integrate) the existing investing team. Having extensive experience working with independent strategic advisors, we can take the same multi advisor model with OCIO arrangements.
Demistifying OCIO
Erik van Houwelingen, Chair of the Management Board of our investment business shares valuable insights to help demistify ‘OCIO’. During his extensive career he served as Chair, Board Member and Supervisory Board member for many large Dutch pension funds and investment businesses where he regularly commissioned and oversaw OCIO delivery.
What is OCIO?
In our view, OCIO is very simply Fiduciary Management with a very high level of customisation across governance and investment strategy. However, the sophistication of an OCIO model demands greater expertise, implementation, and service to add true value to trustee boards, providers must be highly proficient. The benefits of an OCIO model include greater governance and strengthened operational capabilities, leading to a more bespoke, and better aligned, investment proposition.
Managing risk with OCIO
As Boards carry the scheme risk, we firmly believe that in a highly tailored OCIO model, trustees should retain strategic decision-making authority to ensure maximum value and complete transparency. Our investment solutions are entirely custom-built to fit each client’s particular risk and governance model. This provides more sophisticated access to the investible universe, more efficient implementation, and economies of scale that help reduce costs of underlying managers and other service providers.
Key considerations
There are some particular challenges for trustee boards, sponsors and providers when embarking on a new OCIO appointment. For example, decisions on single vs multi-advisory model should be made at the outset, levels of delegation and roles and responsibilities must also being agreed early in the process. Beyond this the big decisions are around the investment strategy and the integration of the existing investment team to the new provider if appropriate. We recommend early planning and decision-making to ensure a smooth transition and consistent investment performance.