OUTSOURCED CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER (OCIO)

Optimise your investment program with Outsourced CIO services.

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INTRODUCING OCIO

A tailored investment program built around your needs.

An OCIO partnership, also known as implemented consulting brings a significantly deeper pool of specialist resources, removing the barriers between you and your ideal investment program.

Russell Investments Australian Implemented Consulting

Investing is challenging, there are a lot of things to get right and there's a lot on the line. I think the first thing to realise is that every single client is unique and so a cookie cutter approach just won't work. Spending the time to get to know the people, the organisation, you know what they stand for is important in terms of being able to deliver a successful outcome.

The challenges are significant we're talking about caring about the retirement savings of thousands of individuals. Not-for-profit organisations have an extremely challenging task. In effect, they have in the main been donated or bequeathed money, so they really feel this need to honor that trust that's been placed in them and use that money effectively and get it to further the mission that it's been put aside for. We really want to make sure that when we're providing an investment strategy, it is as efficient as possible to help them meet those goals.

Advisers have had a pretty rough time over the last five to ten years, in that their cost to serve has gone up, the compliance burden has increased and the complexity of people's lives and arrangements that they choose to live in has changed. It’s really about helping with that difficult fee conversation that you have with within clients. We can tailor a solution that meets that specific fee point that you're looking for but without sacrificing all of the deep manager research, the active management, the risk management and all those other due diligence areas that you need help with.

We offer a more tailored personalised service for our members, than a lot of other superannuation funds. In helping individuals to set a goal that is all about them, we're talking to our members as individuals and building solutions for them as individuals, and the solution for you as an individual has got to be better than the mass solution that's an average of the right answer for everyone.

 There's really no substitute for local knowledge when it comes to manager research. Having people on the ground who are there living their lives with other fund managers is a real benefit. They get to understand how these people manage money day to day, they get to understand the local nuances in that economy and they also get to identify new opportunities that may emerge with emerging managers.

For purpose organisations, I would actually say are very well-run organisations, so they have some very, in my experience senior advisers helping them through that and we're one of those. We provide them with strategic investment advice, governance advice and really help them through that day-to-day management of their charity, so they can actually spend their time focusing on their true mission.

The difference with Russell investments, is we're clever people but we take the time to really get to understand our clients, understand their circumstances, understand as they're changing and that I think makes us able to give them better advice and invest and produce better outcomes for them.

HOW CAN OUTSOURCED INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT HELP YOU?

Partnering with an outsourced investment manager can address many of the challenges and constraints facing institutional investors.

Deepen your resources.

Outsourcing your investments will add depth and continuity, allowing you to focus on the decisions most critical to your organisation.

Respond more rapidly in a crisis.

An outsourced CIO partnership ensures your portfolio is monitored around the clock and can respond rapidly in a crisis.

Lower your investment costs.

An OCIO partner can use their scale, leveraging in-house capabilities at cost and negotiating more competitive sub-manager rates.

Improve access to the best ideas.

The right partner can significantly broaden the range of investable opportunities, robustly assessing and accessing a deeper pool of possibilities.

THE FIVE ESSENTIAL STEPS OF AN INVESTMENT PROGRAM

Your investment portfolio is only one part of a ‘best practice’ investment program.

Investment program health check

5 minute assessment

This short 'health check' assessment will help you and your organisation to diagnose the strengths and opportunities for improvement in your investment program.

Step One: Investment objectives

Lay the right foundations from the start

Setting investment objectives may seem relatively easy or even obvious. But this is one area where there is more than meets the eye.

Step Two: Governance

The Overlooked Art of Good Governance

What is good governance? And does it really make a difference? As we have learnt from the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 market meltdown, just as quick as markets go up, they can go down.

Step Three: Investment Philosophy

A road map for your investment philosophy

An investment philosophy is similar to a road map: It helps an organisation decide which opportunities to pursue to reach their goals. This set of beliefs and principles guides the decision-making process and enables the development of an appropriate strategic asset allocation.

Step Four: Investment strategy & implementation

It's like building a house.

Investing is like building a house. To construct a new home, you first need to know your strengths—and areas where you need to rely on experts and specialists. The same holds true when it comes to investing and step four of an investment program: populating your portfolio with a diversified mix of strategies across assets, styles, and managers requires dedicated resources and expertise.

Step Five: Ongoing Management

Ongoing management to adapt and stay on track

Step five includes identifying if there are areas of the program that aren’t working and what can be done to get back on track. Once an investment program is setup, it can be easy to fall into a trap of ‘set and forget’. But to have the greatest chance of success, your investment program needs constant attention.

KEY ASPECTS OF OUR OUTSOURCED CIO APPROACH

Our role: helping you achieve your investment goals. Period.

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Uniquely
yours.

We don't take a cookie-cutter approach with your investment program. Dedicating the time to truly understand you, your challenges and your beliefs ensures our solution is ideally suited to your needs.

 

In a recent study, our clients ranked our understanding and alignment with their unique investment goals ahead of any other firm surveyed.¹

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Industry
expertise.

This isn't our first rodeo. Your dedicated team will include seasoned professionals who have helped organisations like yours achieve their investment goals. They'll hit the ground running with a deep understanding of the investment challenges faced by your industry.

 

Our investment professionals bring an average of 19 years industry experience with specialist expertise in DB, DC, non-profit and healthcare.

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Global
access.

A world of opportunities, brought to your door. Our globally-connected network of investment professionals searches for the best investments and puts them to work for you. Every specialist integrates with our global investment platform, drawing on sophisticated modeling tools and years of research and expertise.

 

Today, our global platform is substantial, managing more than $425 billion —and guiding $1.6 trillion²—in assets on behalf of investors all around the world.

WE'RE HERE TO HELP

If you're considering an outsourced CIO, we can help you find the right approach for you.

No obligation. Let's talk.

Request a call back

WHAT SETS OUR OCIO APPROACH APART

Fundamentally OCIO.

OCIO is what we do. The core focus of our global institutional business. We’ve been honing our craft for more than 40 years, a level of commitment unmatched by any other organisation. Every capability we’ve developed, was solely designed to help our clients, people like you, reach their goals.

Public & private mastery

There is a world of opportunities well beyond those listed on public markets. Unlike other firms, we bring a mastery across both public and private assets leveraging our strategic partnerships and capabilities to ensure you have full access. As well as the technology to see how it all comes together with aggregated exposures and risks.

Team synergy

Any investment program is fundamentally a team effort. More important than the team's size is the team's cohesion, the investment experience, and the experience of working together. Our investment professionals bring 19+ years in the industry and average more than a decade working together.

Total portfolio intelligence

Knowing your exposure is the critical first step in any crisis. Yet, many competitors fall at the first hurdle, struggling to aggregate positions from multiple underlying managers. In contrast, we know how you’re positioned, and so will you with complete transparency across your entire portfolio, from strategy-level to security-level and with the capability to respond in real-time.

$1.6t
assets under advice²

$435b
assets under management

1980
when our OCIO journey began

#4
global OCIO ranking by assets³

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NOT READY TO TALK?

Find out more about the OCIO model, how it can help and what to look in a provider—the OCIO Fundamentals.

Learn the OCIO fundamentals

All data as of March 31, 2022 unless otherwise stated.

¹ In a recent study conducted by Chatham Partners, Russell Investments significantly outperformed peers in multiple client service metrics. Firms included in the Chatham proprietary investment management benchmark: AllianzGI, Blackrock, BNY Mellon, Bridgewater Associates, Capital Guardian/ Capital Research, Dimensional Fund Advisors, Dodge & Cox, Goldman Sachs, GMO, J.P. Morgan, Loomis Sayles & Company, MFS Investment Management, Neuberger Berman, NTGI, Parametric, PIMCO, State Street, T. Rowe Price, Vanguard, Wellington, and Wells Capital Mgmt.

² As of December 31, 2021.

³ Source: Pensions & Investments, “Special report: CIO Outsourcing: OCIO growth assisted by volatile times”, Issue date: June 29, 2020. Available at: https://researchcenter.pionline.com/v3/rankings/outsourcing-manager/datatable