SEC Looks At Consultant, Pension Fund Relationship

January 12, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has turned its investigative eye to the relationship pension funds have with investment consulting firms.

The request for information was made in letters the SEC sent to a number of different pension consultants.   In the letters, the agency was asking the consultants for information regarding the practices, compensation arrangements and disclosures in providing services to defined benefit and defined contribution plans, according to a Dow Jones report.

The SEC said the purpose of the letters was to “determine the practice of these consultants,” Lori Richards, director of the SEC’s office of compliance inspections and examinations, told Dow Jones.   “We sent the same request for documents to a large cross-section of pension consultants, including some of the largest.”

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Among the firms that confirmed to Dow Jones receiving a letter:

  • Watson Wyatt Worldwide
  • Frank Russell Co.
  • Mercer Investment Consulting
  • Wilshire Associates
  • Segal Advisors.

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