Should Pensions Care About Valuation Fraud?
According to "Bonds' Pricing Is Questioned In Email Trail, Former Trader at RBC Alleges Mismarking Of Plain-Vanilla Issues " (October 26, 2007) Wall Street Journal reporter Susan Pulliam describes alleged fraud at one of the large Canadian banks. Whether government and corporate bonds were incorrectly valued to hide losses remains to be seen. However, if true, this is serious stuff.
Pension fiduciaries should be regularly asking external managers about their trading checks and balances. However, in light of recent negative headlines, one wonders (a) whether sufficiently tough questions are being asked (b) who is doing the investigation and (c) whether risk management and valuation best practices are more myth than reality at some organizations.
ERISA and state pension laws make it clear that fiduciaries have a solemn obligation to properly select and review external money mangers. Are breach of duty complaints likely to ensue for those plan sponsors who have selected "troubled" money managers and cannot provide evidence of a disciplined and comprehensive review of their risk management and valuation policies?
Our forthcoming November 6, 2007 webinar will look at trading controls and the selection and review of external money monagers. Click here for more information.
