In today’s environment, strategies are more complex, markets are less forgiving and stakeholders are more critical. This puts a high pressure on the effectiveness of investment organisations.
For pension funds, the Investment Committee is pivotal in its role of linking the preferences of Trustees to the underlying investments.
Client request:
This GBP 15bn scheme wanted to assess the effectiveness of its Investment Committee and test its functioning in a crisis situation.
Our approach:
• The Trustees, the in-house CIO, the investment consultant and pension director were interviewed and expectations of the role of the Investment Committee mapped.
• Avida then facilitated a “war game” simulating a crisis.
• Key learnings from this were then reviewed in a workshop with the entire Investment Committee.
• Conclusions and an improvement plan were developed and reported to the Trustees.
Deliverables for the client:
The project took less than two months and helped the IC to become more effective in terms of:
• Clarification for the role of the Investment Committee in line with Trustee expectations.
• Optimised key competencies and a reduction in key man risk.
• Lessons learned for crisis situations (e.g. improved decision-making speed, clarity of roles and responsibilities, and improved communication protocols).