Outsourcing the Role of
Chief Investment Officer
EDWARD L. BERMAN
HEAD OF INSTITUTIONAL
FIDUCIARY SERVICES
NEUBERGER BERMAN
TRUST COMPANY N.A.
The concept of outsourcing holds a well-established position in today’s global business
environment. In the asset management world, we’re increasingly seeing entities like
foundations, endowments and smaller institutions with retirement plans look out-of-house
for help in managing all aspects of their investments — responsibilities that typically fall
under the purview of the chief investment officer (CIO). The benefits of outsourcing can
be substantial, enabling companies to leverage the core competencies of their provider,
including asset allocation and manager selection expertise, high-quality investment
options, deep industry knowledge and resources and, potentially, reduced fiduciary liability.
A L O O K AT T H E J O B O F C I O
MATTHEW L. RUBIN
DIRECTOR OF INVESTMENT STRATEGY
NEUBERGER BERMAN
CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER
NEUBERGER BERMAN
TRUST COMPANY N.A.
CIOs are responsible for designing and managing investment plans of companies,
retirement pools, endowments, foundations or other organizations with financial
assets and obligations. The job requires a deep understanding of the organization
and requirements of the plan, significant investment expertise and the ability to stay
up-to-date on regulatory developments. CIOs often serve as fiduciaries and thus have a
responsibility to manage assets prudently.
Within this larger mandate, a CIO is tasked with understanding current and future
needs and goals of the organization, and setting a risk tolerance that balances the
organization’s investment needs and culture. This often requires setting outflow and
inflow expectations (which may require actuarial analysis of defined benefit plans) and
establishing an optimized asset allocation strategy that will help the organization meet
its obligations within the confines of its risk tolerance. CIOs must also select managers
or strategies to implement the plan, then monitor the portfolio and its managers,
rebalancing or making tactical moves according to the market environment, and
terminate managers as necessary.
DIFFERENT LEVELS OF CIO OUTSOURCING
For entities that have a CIO or an investment team in place, an “outsourced CIO”
can represent an additional source of input for decision-making. In this situation,
outsourced CIO services can include input on capital market assumptions and tactical
market opportunities. They may also provide a comprehensive view of risk analysis,
or simply a connection to the financial community and the networks of social
information they provide.
It’s increasingly common for organizations to seek a more complete set of services from
an “outsourced CIO,” in which case the role may expand to full fiduciary responsibility
across asset allocation, implementation and rebalancing processes. Within this scope,
entities hold on to the ability to retain or terminate the outsourced CIO, but are
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OUTSOURCING THE ROLE OF CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER
generally able to delegate certain responsibilities and associated liabilities in overseeing
the investment plan to the outsourced partner.
POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF OUTSOURCING
Businesses may choose to outsource a task when the cost/benefit of outsourcing is
a more attractive balance than the cost/benefit of doing a task in-house. The same
way that this can apply to manufacturing curtain rods, it can apply to designing and
managing an investment plan.
Extensive investment infrastructure at a lower cost
CIO outsourcing can allow entities to access a substantial investment infrastructure
for far less than it would cost to build it in-house. Hiring a CIO or an investment
team can represent a significant financial commitment — especially for a company, a
foundation or an endowment with a small to mid-size asset pool. Additionally, smaller
organizations may be able to hire only one professional who, however knowledgeable,
may lack the time or expertise to do every task related to the job well.
Rather than relying on a small CIO office or an investment committee, CIO
outsourcing provides immediate, turnkey access to asset allocation, manager research
and selection expertise, ongoing monitoring and liability management. Outsourced
CIOs can take responsibility for navigating the array of available investment
options — active, passive and flexible strategies, products that use derivatives and
leverage, and those with lockups and alternate fee structures.
An outsourced CIO may also have connections to industry information via proprietary
and third-party research and relationships with other industry professionals that can
also be extremely valuable to an organization. Thanks to their position within the
industry, for example, an outsourced partner can have insight into working with a
particular portfolio manager or strategy that an in-house CIO or investment team
might not have.
Potentially lower personal liability for board members and business owners
Board members of endowments and foundations and business owners — particularly
those with responsibility for ERISA plans — are often fiduciaries and thus held to the
associated fiduciary standard and the potential for liability if those standards aren’t
fulfilled. While in-house CIOs or investment committees may approach their fiduciary
role with best efforts and intentions, they may not have the capacity or resources to
perform extensive asset allocation, due diligence, implementation and monitoring.
Partnering with an outside fiduciary can provide the dual benefit of delegating to a
firm with strengths in these areas, as well as potentially alleviating themselves of some
of the associated fiduciary responsibilities and risks.
C H O O S I N G A PA R T N E R
An ideal “outsourced CIO” has deep asset allocation and manager selection expertise
and access to high-quality traditional and alternative portfolio managers and strategies.
It’s important to seek out partners with deep industry connections and knowledge of
market trends to benefit from the less tangible relationships and opportunities that such
connections can present. Additionally, it’s critical to find a partner with an open and
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adaptable communication style, who can clearly explain the asset allocation process and
rationale for hiring and firing managers, and answer questions about performance.
Questions to Ask an Outsourced CIO Candidate
• What is your process for choosing an asset allocation?
• How do you decide to change managers?
•C
an you implement tactical market solutions? How frequently do you make
changes and recommendations?
• What do you know about the regulatory environment of our industry?
•D
o you work with clients like us (by size, by industry, by investment goals) today?
What recommendations have you made to them?
N E U B E R G E R B E R M A N T R U S T C O M PA N Y A S A N O U T S O U R C E D C I O
Neuberger Berman Trust Company is often utilized by clients as a full fiduciary on
investment plans. In this capacity, we can oversee the initial evaluation of risk profile
and investment goals, design an asset allocation and manager implementation, and
perform ongoing management of investment plans.
We provide clients with access to a broad array of equity, fixed income and alternative
investments from Neuberger Berman, which features portfolio managers with unique
investment outlooks who bring their own best thinking to their clients. Through our
complementary architecture platform we also utilize select nonaffiliated managers, and
are particularly focused on independent, specialist investment managers covering niche
strategies. This multitude of investment outlooks provides our centralized outsourced
CIO resources with unique perspectives and buy-side viewpoints, which we bring to the
management of foundation, endowment and retirement plan assets.
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OUTSOURCING THE ROLE OF CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER
Partnering With Clients For Over 70 Years
Neuberger Berman LLC
605 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10158
www.nb.com
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This material is presented solely for informational purposes and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a
recommendation or solicitation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment or
strategy is suitable for a particular investor. Investing entails risks, including possible loss of principal. Past performance is no guarantee
of future results.
Fiduciary services are offered by Neuberger Berman Trust Company. “Neuberger Berman Trust Company” is a trade name used by
Neuberger Berman Trust Company N.A. and Neuberger Berman Trust Company of Delaware N.A., which are affiliates of Neuberger Berman
Group LLC. The “Neuberger Berman” name and logo are registered service marks of Neuberger Berman Group LLC.
L0138 06/11 ©2011 Neuberger Berman LLC. All rights reserved.