Hewitt to Provide Delegated Investment Services to Crawford & Company

According to the announcement, Hewitt’s delegated investment services help plan sponsors better understand and manage the assets and liabilities in their pension plans. Using its pension risk management tools, Hewitt is able to monitor the assets and liabilities of a company’s pension plan on a frequent basis – enabling quicker, more informed investment decisions, and better management of surplus risk, the announcement said.

Hewitt works closely with a plan sponsor’s investment committee to define investment policy guidelines, funding policies, appropriate risk posture, and target asset allocations. Once complete, Hewitt assumes responsibility – including co-fiduciary obligations – for managing plan investments. All fees associated with Hewitt’s delegated investment services are fully disclosed to clients, and any investment manager fee reductions negotiated by Hewitt accrue directly to the plan.

“Managing pension investments is not a core competency for most plan sponsors. They are having trouble choosing from a growing array of options that will maximize asset returns, control volatility, and decrease risk. With pension assets dropping dramatically over the past year, the pressure to ‘get it right’ is even stronger in today’s market,” said Bradley Smith, head of Hewitt’s U.S. Retirement Investment practice, in the announcement.