Taft-Hartley Pension Investment Performance and Fee Review
Organization & Objective
A national labor organization engaged North Pier to conduct an independent review of the investment performance of over a dozen regional defined benefit pension plans. Each plan shared broadly similar long-term objectives. Leadership asked North Pier to evaluate long-term performance and results relative to each plan’s policy benchmark, along with OCIO fees, and investment management fees, The review also highlighted asset allocation outliers, and to model what-if scenarios around active versus passive U.S. equity implementation for each plan.
Process
North Pier collected and standardized performance, benchmark, fee, and asset allocation data across all plans to create a consistent basis for comparison. We evaluated returns over 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 year periods against each plan’s policy benchmark.
We separately analyzed OCIO fees, investment management fees at the plan level, and public equity investment management fees. The review also highlighted fee, performance, and asset allocation outliers across the plans and included what-if scenarios around active versus passive U.S. equity implementation.
Results
• Delivered an independent review of over a dozen pension plans, making differences in long-term performance, fees, and asset allocation easier to evaluate
• Identified fee, performance, and asset allocation outliers across the plans, including variation in OCIO fees and investment management fees
• Well-documented, independent basis to evaluate the incumbent relationships and consider future options
• Provided insights into best performers.