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2010 is all about Pension Funding Volatility Controls
An SEI news release said 91% of sponsors polled identified the volatility issue as a key goal for the year, while 33% of respondents went a step further to identify it as an extremely high priority.
Meanwhile, according to SEI, 90% of respondents cited developing a strategy for improving their funded status as a priority in 2010, with 71% saying it was at least a “high” priority.
“As pension plans continue to negatively impact organizational finances, all of these strategies should be priorities this year, but successfully executing them will be a significant challenge,” said Jon Waite, Director, Investment Management Advice and the Chief Actuary for SEI’s Institutional Group, in the news release.
Additional priorities cited in the poll include:
- Providing senior management or their Board with a long-term pension strategy;
- Gaining the ability to most effectively manage duration;
- Conducting an asset-liability study;
- Implementing a Liability Driven Investing (LDI) approach using long-duration bonds;
- Stress testing the portfolio to gauge its ability to withstand extreme macro economic environments;
- Evaluating a different approach for investment management;
- Changing funding policies and timelines; and
- Defining fiduciary responsibilities for trustees and investment consultants.
The poll was completed by 54 executives who oversee pensions ranging from $250 million to $10 billion in assets.
Summaries of the poll are available by emailing seiresearch@seic.com
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