Top Mercer Consultant Jumps to Asset Manager

The talent flow between asset managers and consultants continues apace.

(September 9, 2013) — One of the top global consultants—ranked in aiCIO’s Knowledge Brokers 2012—is to leave Mercer for UK investment giant Schroders next month, the companies have announced.

Divyesh Hindocha is to step down from his role as global head of investment research next month after more than two decades at the firm.

He is to join the largest publically listed asset manager in the UK as global head of product and defined contribution.

He will join Schroders on November 1 and is to report to Massimo Tosato, executive vice-chairman at the firm.

Never miss a story — sign up for CIO newsletters to stay up-to-date on the latest institutional investment industry news.

Deb Clarke, who joined Mercer from rival firm Watson Wyatt (now Towers Watson) in 2005, is to take over from Hindocha at Mercer. She has 20 years’ experience as a portfolio manager to assist her in the new role.

Clarke will be responsible for manager research, oversight of the generation of strategic research, and asset allocation.

“The ability to integrate manager research and strategic research has never been more important, given the volatile investment environment,” said Phil de Cristo, president of investments at Mercer.

For this year’s Knowledge Brokers—aiCIO’s ranked list of the world’s leading consultants, published last week—click here.

Related content: How and Why Large Funds Are Increasingly Walking Alone & Are Daggers Out Between Consultants and Asset Managers?

DC Participation Peaks, But Savings Rates Still Falling Short

Aon Hewitt has found all-time high participation rate in DC plans in the last decade but not without room for improvement.

(September 6, 2013) — Participation rates in defined contribution (DC) plans peaked at an average 78% this year but most employees are still not saving enough, according to a study by Aon Hewitt.

The research showed almost 28% of 3.5 million eligible employees contributed below the company match threshold, thereby missing out on substantial retirement contributions.

Aon Hewitt examined saving and investment behavior of these workers across 141 DC plans, with an average of 24,700 eligible employees per plan, since 2002.

Never miss a story — sign up for CIO newsletters to stay up-to-date on the latest institutional investment industry news.

Based on this study, typical allocation to equities rose marginally to 68.3% from 66.8% in 2011. The number of asset classes held by participants also increased to average 5.3, showing moves to diversify.

Average allocation to company stock, however, dropped to 13.4% from 41.8% in 2002. 

It was also revealed that 14.5% of participants of DC plans initiated trades during 2012, a figure significantly lower than 20% in 2008.

Despite such improvements seen in 2012 in DC plans, leakage continued to plague retirement savings.

Aon Hewitt witnessed a minor decline in contributors with outstanding loans from 27.6% in 2009 to 26.6% and a considerable climb in the number of those withdrawing money from their retirement pots—6.5% from 4.9% in 2006.

To improve on these concerns, Aon Hewitt recommended the following to plan sponsors: utilize automatic enrollment and other incentives to increase participation, suggest a variety of investment features such as target-date funds for higher rates of return, and reduce leakage by limiting loans to prevent premature loss of retirement savings.

The full paper can be found here.

Related Content: Investment: Where DC Should Not Focus, Says Consultants

Contact the writer of this story:

Sage Um

Assistant Editor, aiCIO
sum@assetinternational.com

Follow on Twitter at @ai_CIO

«