Jordan Fremont comments in Benefits Canada looks at the challenges of hiring an outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) to take on the day-to-day management of a company's pension plan.
Plan sponsors choosing to use their consulting firm’s delegated solutions should consider hiring an independent consultant to oversee the OCIO’s performance, suggests Jordan Fremont, a partner on the pensions and benefits team at Bennett Jones LLP. “Who in that case is reviewing the OCIO provider if it was the same party that was providing you independent consultant advice before? I would argue that, in order to get an independent view on that OCIO provider, you ought to consider obtaining a different consultant that is truly independent, because the old consultant now is arguably no longer independent.”