Another interesting angle to consider is the fact that depending on their internal policies, certain consultancy firms now have restrictions on how much corporate hospitality they can accept from asset managers, which could affect relationships.
This has not gone unnoticed by the asset management community, as one respondent noted: “The entertainment ban at Aon Hewitt is causing distance and is hurting them in my view. If a consultant could be bribed by a coffee, they have issues anyway.”
Among the 21 consultants there were also examples of what many would consider to be ‘non-traditional’ investment consultants. A case in point is Cardano, which by its own admission is a fiduciary manager helping clients with funding paths and therefore has a different approach to working with external managers.
Similarly, one respondent said of EY: “They are an OCIO/fiduciary – only in the business of reviewing fiduciary managers and arranging beauty parades for clients.”
Furthermore, firms such as Allenbridge occupy what one respondent termed an ‘independent advisory’ role and are called upon by trustees only for help with certain projects or asset classes as opposed to a retained adviser.
The respondent observed: “I’ve only worked with Allenbridge as an ‘independent adviser’ when another consultant is retained. They provide third-party opinions on the work of the main consultants.”
Another agreed, adding: “I see [Allenbridge] as a hybrid between independent advisers and consultancy.”
Other consultants in the sample might not have been operating in the UK or within certain areas such as DC pensions for as long as others and not had the chance to build up the same track record or client relationships.
One respondent said of Deloitte, for example: “New relationship – too soon to give feedback.”
Again, other firms, including bfinance, Russell Investments, EY and Cardano, do not work in the DC space and subsequently received a lower score in that category. Although one would think in such situations a respondent would have selected the ‘haven’t worked with them’ or ‘don’t know them’ options, in which case their answer would not have counted towards the final score.
