(January 17, 2012) — New York City pension funds will seek to expand their commitment to minority and women investment managers by $500 million, comptroller John C. Liu has announced.
The move will solidify the city’s position as one of the top pension systems in the nation doing business with minority and women-owned enterprises (MWBEs), Liu said. “This $500 million commitment is another step in ensuring that minority and women-owned firms have more opportunities to compete for City business,” Liu said in a statement. “It also ensures that the City has access to the best and brightest in the financial industry. When we increase opportunities, we increase competition and that ultimately benefits taxpayers.”
With today’s announcement, the pension funds will seek to grow their commitment to MWBE investment managers by $500 million – on top of the $6 billion already under management by MWBE firms. The funds oversee a combined $115 billion.
Orim Graves, Executive Director of the National Association of Securities Professionals, added: “This represents a significant step towards the City fulfilling what should be a long term commitment of doing business with minority and woman-owned enterprises, who have continuously proven to add value to the NYC Pension Systems.”
Liu’s office also created the “MWBE Report Card NYC” website (http://mwbereportcardnyc.com) which tracks the amount that each city agency spends with minority and women-owned businesses.