Pension Risk Matters : Pension Risk News & Analysis : Investment Governance, Inc. : Pension Risk & Investment

I am delighted to have been invited to join the faculty of the Master’s Track at the annual fi360 investment fiduciary conference, held this year in Scottsdale, Arizona. Speakers include: (1) ERISA attorney Charles Humphrey (2) Edward Lynch, AIFA, RF, GFS with Fiduciary Plan Governance, LLC (3) Dr. Susan Mangiero, AIFA, CFA, FRM with Fiduciary Leadership, LLC and (4) pension auditor Michelle Sullivan, CPA with Freed Maxick CPAs

The fi360 Master’s Track offerings are created especially for those with a knowledge of fiduciary standards and how that standard applies to the topics being presented.

Our session is entitled "Due Diligence for Alternative Investments." Our panel will focus both on the legal issues and the internal control compliance issues that cannot be ignored by anyone with a fiduciary responsibility to prudently select and monitor. This session will describe the impact of Dodd-Frank on investing in alternatives, various court cases and regulatory enforcement actions as well as the DOL/IRS regulatory guidance on alternative investment allocations. Click to read more about this session and the other sessions to be presented at this conference of investment fiduciary professionals from April 17 to April 19.

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I am delighted to announce our seventh year as an educational resource for the $30+ trillion global retirement plan industry. With over a million visitors to www.pensionriskmatters.com, I appreciate the ongoing feedback and encouragement from financial and legal readers. This blog began as a labor of love and continues to be personally rewarding as a way to help guide the discussions about pension risk, governance and fiduciary duties.

Here is a link to the March 25, 2013 Business Wire press release about www.pensionriskmatters.com, an educational pension risk governance blog for ERISA, public and non-U.S. pension plan trustees and their advisors.

As always, your input is important. Click to send an email with your comments and suggestions.

Thank you!

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ERISA plans have long relied on over-the-counter swaps to hedge or to enhance portfolio returns. Given the high level of attention being paid to de-risking solutions these days, the role of swaps is even more important since these derivative contracts are often used by insurance companies and banks to manage their own risks when an ERISA plan transfers assets and/or liabilities. Big dollars (and other currencies) are at stake. According to its 2012 semi-annual tally of global market size, the Bank for International Settlements ("BIS") estimates the interest rate swap market alone at $379 trillion. Click to access details about the size of the over-the-counter derivatives market as of June 2012. It is therefore noteworthy that regulatory feedback has now been provided with respect to the use of swaps by ERISA plans.

In its long awaited advisory opinion issued by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration ("EBSA"), ERISA plans can use swaps without fear of undue regulatory costs and diminished supply (due to brokers who do not want to trade if deemed a fiduciary).

In its rather lengthy February 7, 2013 communication with Steptoe & Johnson LLP attorney Melanie Franco Nussdorf (on behalf of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association), EBSA officials (Louis J. Campagna, Chief - Division of Fiduciary Interpretations, and Lyssa E. Hall, Director - Office of Exemption Determinations) made several important points about whether a swaps "clearing member" (a) has ERISA 3(21)(A)(i) fiduciary liability if a pension counterparty defaults and the clearing member liquidates its position (b) is a party in interest as described in section 3(14)(B) of ERISA with respect to the pension plan counterparty on the other side of a swaps trade and (c) will have created a prohibited transaction under section 406 of ERISA if it exercises its default rights. These include the following.

• Margin held by a Futures Commission Merchant ("FCM") or a clearing organization as part of a swap trade with an ERISA plan will not be deemed a plan asset under Title 1 of ERISA. The plan's assets are the contractual rights to which both parties agree (in terms of financial exchanges) as well as any gains that the FCM or clearing member counterparty may realize as a result of its liquidation of a swap with an ERISA plan that has not performed.
• An FCM or clearing organization should not be labeled a "party in interest" under ERISA as long as the swap agreement(s) with a plan is outside the realm of prohibited transaction rules.

There is much more to say on this topic and future posts will address issues relating to the use of derivatives by ERISA plans. In the meantime, links to this 2013 regulatory document and several worthwhile legal analyses are given below, as well as a link to my book on the topic of risk management. While it was published in late 2004 as a primer for fiduciaries, many of the issues relating to risk governance, risk metrics and risk responsibilities remain the same.

• U.S. Department of Labor Advisory Opinion 2013-01A;
• "DOL Advisory Opinion 2013-01A: Cleared Swaps Under ERISA - Margin Not a Plan Asset/CCPs & FCSm Are Not Fiduciaries/No Prohibited Transactions" by Attorney Andrew P. Cross and Allison W. Sizemore, The Swap Report, February 14, 2013;
• "DOL Resolves Important ERISA Issues About Cleared Swap Transactions," Bloomberg BNA, February 27, 2013; and
• Risk Management for Pensions, Endowments and Foundations by Dr. Susan Mangiero, John Wiley & Sons, November 2004.

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On January 16, 2013, this blogger - Dr. Susan Mangiero - had the pleasure of speaking with (a) Attorney Anthony A. Dreyspool (Senior Managing Director, Brock Fiduciary Services) (b) Attorney David Hartman (General Counsel and Vice President, General Motors Asset Management) and (c) Attorney Sam Myler (McDermott Will & Emery) about compliance "must do" items and litigation vulnerabilities. Sponsored by Strafford Publications, "Pension De-Risking for Employee Benefit Sponsors" attracted a large audience of general counsel, outside ERISA counsel and financial professionals. In addition to numerous talking points shared by all of us presenting, we had lots of attendee questions about issues such as balance sheet impact, case law and annuity regulations.

Click to download the slides for "Pension De-Risking for Employee Benefit Sponsors."

In my opening comments, I described some of the factors that are being discussed as part of conversations relating to whether a plan sponsor should de-risk or not. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Low interest rates;
• Higher life expectancies;
• Increased PBGC premiums;
• Company's debt capacity;
• Intent to go public or sell to an acquirer;
• Available cash; and
• Knowledge and experience of in-house ERISA fiduciaries.

Attorney Hartman urged anyone interested in de-risking to allow ample time of between six to eighteen months in order to file documents, research and create or modify policies and procedures as needed. He also advised companies to make sure that participants are fully apprised of their rights and to explain the merits of any particular transaction. For companies that may want to redesign a plan(s) for hourly workers, more time may be needed, especially if collective bargaining agreements are impacted.  His suggestion is to inform plan participants about state guarantees that apply in the event of an insurance company default. When retirees are emotionally attached to getting a check from their employer, care must be taken to allay any concerns that future monies will come from an outside third party. Keep in mind that the market may be moving at the same time that a deal is being put together. Regarding the transfer of assets, Attorney Hartman stated the importance of finding out early on what an insurance company is willing to accept. An independent appraiser may be required to determine the appropriate value of certain assets.

I talked about the various risks that can be mitigated via de-risking versus those that are introduced as the result of some type of defined benefit plan transfer or derivatives overlay strategy. The point was made that there is no perfect solution and that facts and circumstances must be taken into account. I added that litigation may arise if a plaintiff (or class of plaintiffs) question any or all of the following items:

• Whether executives are unduly compensated as the result of an earnings or balance sheet boost due to de-risking;
• Timing of a transaction and whether interest rates are "too low" at the time of a deal;
• Completeness (or lack thereof) of information that is provided to participants;
• Amount of fees paid to vendors;
• Use of an independent fiduciary;
• Level of asset valuations;
• Use of an independent appraiser;
• Extent to which due diligence was conducted on the structure of deal; and/or
• Level of vetting of "safest available" annuity provider.

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According to a new report just published by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB"), valuation of pension plan assets was one of the audit areas with "deficiencies attributable to failures to identify and test controls." Given the importance of having proper pension valuations carried out by knowledgeable and experienced persons, it is no surprise that this oversight organization devoted an entire section of its findings to the topic of valuation of pension plans assets. The problems they found include the following:

• Insufficient testing of controls over how pension plan assets are valued;
• Testing of controls that were imprecise and therefore did not allow for an assessment of the risk of material misstatement by plan auditors;
• Failure to properly test the valuation of pension plan assets; and/or
• Relying on management or the person(s) who performed the reviews without seeking an independent assessment as to why "variances from other evidential matter" were occurring.

In response to these findings, a prominent ERISA attorney commented that the cited deficiencies were not surprising and that valuation problems will continue to grow for those retirement plans that are allocating more money to "hard to value" funds.

In his 2011 speech before the AICPA National Conference, Jason K. Plourde with the Office of the Chief Accountant, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), talked at length about the role of pricing services and how securities that are not actively traded should be valued. He suggested that management "may need to perform different procedures and controls when considering the information from pricing services regarding the fair value of financial instruments..."

Concerns about how best to value pension plan assets and regularly test methodologies and controls related to said valuations took center stage in 2008 when the ERISA Advisory Council working group on "Hard to Value Assets" met to discuss how best to improve things. This blogger - Dr. Susan Mangiero - testified on the topic of "hard to value assets," emphasizing that poor valuations lead to a cascade of problems. For one thing, inflated valuations translate into higher fees paid by ERISA pension plans. Second, incorrect valuations make it difficult to properly review and revise any of the items listed below, each of which are critical to proper fund management such as:

• Asset allocation;
• Exposure to a particular sector or fund manager;
• Fee benchmarking for appropriateness of compensation paid to a manager;
• Type and size of hedges;
• Hiring and termination of an asset manager(s);
• Regulatory funding ratio and related cash financing; and
• Cost of pension plan de-risking for some or all of current defined benefit plan participants.

If you missed reading Dr. Susan Mangiero's September 11, 2008 testimony before the ERISA Advisory Council Working Group, click to read about "hard to value" assets in the context of ERISA fiduciary duties and pension risk management.

With more pension plans reporting large scale deficits, don't be shocked if further questions are asked about the integrity of asset and liability valuation numbers.

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Click to register for a January 16, 2013 webinar entitled "Pension De-Risking for Employee Benefit Sponsors: Minimizing Risks and Ensuring ERISA Compliance When Transferring Pension Obligations to Other Parties." Sponsored by Strafford Publications, this Continuing Legal Education ("CLE") webinar will provide benefits counsel with a review of pension de-risking approaches used by companies to reduce some of the risks involved with employee retirement benefits. The panel will offer best practices for leveraging the precautions to prevent ERISA fiduciary law violations when making transfers.

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Ever since the PBGC’s 2007 opinion that a private equity fund with a controlling interest can be liable for a portfolio company’s pension problems, there is increased evidence that corporate transactions can go seriously awry if ERISA benefit plans are not properly addressed. Legal issues are not the only risk factor that could cause a merger, acquisition, spin-off or carve-out to fail to materialize. Low interest rates, investment lock-ups, participant longevity and complex vendor contracts are a few of the challenges that must be confronted by the legal and finance team in charge of due diligence. And with virtually every defined benefit plan facing funding issues in light of these circumstances, the PBGC is extremely proactive in seeking concessions to not interfere with corporate transactions yet hold parties who may have responsibility for unfunded liabilities accountable. Headlines are replete with articles about deals that were stalled or failed because ERISA due diligence was given short shrift. In 2010, the acquisition of a major chemical company took less than six months but coordinating the relationships with defined contribution managers took nearly two years to wrap up. Talks between a large manufacturing company and a potential target company are currently focused on how best to tackle the acquiree’s multi-billion dollar pension fund gap. In the aftermath of the settlement of a recent case, private equity firms and limited partners continue to be jittery about joint and several liability for pension plan funding gaps, making it harder to take a portfolio company public or sell. Taken together, the most important thing that a potential corporate buyer and its counsel can do is to acknowledge the importance of proper due diligence. These problems are not going away and arguably could get much worse.

Join Dr. Susan Mangiero, CFA, certified Financial Risk Manager and Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst and senior ERISA attorney Lawrence K. Cagney to talk about ways to keep a deal from derailing and to avoid buyer’s remorse due to an incomplete assessment of pension plan economics on enterprise value.

Join us to hear speakers talk about critical steps and lessons learned from their experience, to include the following:

• How to revise investment and/or hedging strategy and policy statement(s) when organizations merge;
• Elements of an ERISA service provider due diligence analysis when plans are combined;
• Red flags for an institutional investor to consider when seeking to allocate to private equity portfolios with “pension-heavy” companies that may be hard to exit without costly restructuring;
• Assuring that participant communication is comprehensive;
• Role of the corporate finance attorney versus ERISA counsel; and
• Installing knowledgeable fiduciaries for the new and/or merged employee benefit arrangements

Click to register for "Pensions and Corporate Finance: How to Avoid Buyer's Remorse," sponsored by the Practising Law Institute on November 15, 2012 from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm EDT.

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In this timely and informative webinar hosted by FTI Consulting, legal and compliance experts will provide critical information about the Qualified Professional Asset Manager ("QPAM") exemption and related compliance audit requirement that applies to numerous financial institutions that manage or want to manage ERISA pension money. Speakers will likewise address the merits of managing money for captive ERISA benefit plans and what it means to be an In House Asset Manager ("INHAM").

Getting the right team to conduct the required audit is one important way to mitigate litigation and enforcement risk and to attract and retain institutional dollars. Having a proper audit conducted and using the information to correct deficiencies is another critical step for anyone who understands that non-compliance can be costly.

This timely and informative webinar will address issues that include the following:

• Background information about the new ERISA rule for a Qualified Professional Asset Manager (“QPAM”) audit;
• What it means to be a Qualified Professional Asset Manager or In-House Asset Manager ("INHAM");
• Who must comply and in what timeframe;
• Who can carry out a QPAM /INHAM audit;
• What a QPAM audit entails in terms of information-gathering and scheduling;
• Case study discussion; and 
• How the results of a QPAM audit can be used to improve operations and client relationships.

Who Should Attend:

• Chief Compliance Officers of asset managers
• Business development executives for asset managers
• Internal legal counsel for asset managers and other financial firms
• ERISA consultants and investment advisors

Please join Timothy Brennan, Assistant General Counsel at The Hartford; Howard Pianko, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP; and Susan Mangiero, Managing Director, FTI Forensic & Litigation Consulting as they address these issues and your questions. To attend this free webcast scheduled for Tuesday, October 23, at 1:00 pm Eastern, please click to register for "Managing ERISA Pension Money - QPAM and INHAM 101."

For further information, click to read "Amendment to Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 84-14 for Plan Asset Transactions Determined by Independent Qualified Professional Asset Managers," Federal Register, July 6, 2010.

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Seyfarth Shaw ERISA attorneys Ian Morrison and Violet Borowski wrote an interesting blog post about what they describe as a discernible growth in lawsuits "filed by (or on behalf of) ERISA plans (sometimes class actions) against investment providers for charging excessive fees or otherwise gleaning improper profits from investments used in ERISA plans."

What they point out as noteworthy is the fact that the plans' fiduciaries frequently have no involvement in filing a complaint against a service provider(s) since several courts have allowed plan participants to seek redress without getting permission or even having an obligation to inform a company sponsor. 

At first blush, they offer that this situation may seem benign and possibly even helpful to a sponsor if the result of litigation against a service provider(s) results in reduced costs for everyone. The plot thickens however if a participant's complaint and related discovery later leads to legal scrutiny of a plan's fiduciaries, alleging that they knew about problems but did little or nothing to rectify a "bad" situation.

Attorneys Morrison and Borowski point out the challenges that fiduciaries must confront when a participant(s) files a lawsuit.

• "Do they join with the service provider on the theory that a common defense is the best defense?
• Should they join the participant plaintiffs in attacking the provider and at the same time potentially implicating themselves?
• Or, should they remain on the sidelines, potentially risking being sued for taking no post-litigation action to recover for the provider's alleged breach?"

According to "Wait, You Mean My Plan Is A Plaintiff?" (May 24, 2012), attorneys Morrison and Borowski suggest that plan sponsors set up Google alerts to track any lawsuits that involve a company's benefit plan(s).

As an expert who has been involved in service provider cases, Dr. Susan Mangiero adds that a good offense is to conduct a comprehensive review of agreements on a regular basis. Should litigation occur and an expert is engaged, that person(s) will likely have to review whatever communications were provided to plan participants during the relevant time period as well as the contracts between the plan sponsor and a vendor(s). Another prescriptive course of action is to ensure that communications are robust, especially now with new fee disclosure rules in place.

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On October 16, 2012, thousands of CFOs,Treasurers, Vice Presidents of Finance and other corporate leaders will meet in Miami, Florida for a chance to attend timely and informative sessions as part of this year's annual conference of the Association for Financial Professionals ("AFP"). Dr. Susan Mangiero is proud to have been selected to speak at the Association for Financial Professionals' big event. She will be joined by senior ERISA litigation attorney Howard Shapiro with Proskauer Rose LLP to address the topic of CFO liability and pension plan governance and risk management. Click to access information about the Pension & Benefits educational session track that includes this important session and many others.

According to Dr. Susan Mangiero, a managing director with FTI Consulting's Forensic and Litigation Consulting practice and based in New York, financial professionals, board members and their advisors can learn numerous lessons by examining what went wrong elsewhere and, by extension, what to avoid. Mangiero emphasizes that "Litigation is a reality. Mitigating enforcement, regulatory, litigation and reputation risk is hugely important because of the expensive consequences of inaction. For enlightened companies both large and small, employee benefit plan governance is high on the priority list for officers and directors. When retirement plan problems exist, it could compromise a firm's ability to raise capital, finalize corporate finance transactions and/or add to enterprise value. Most importantly, it could mean that a company is unable to keep its promises to plan participants."

Dr. Mangiero is also the author of "Pension risk, governance and CFO liability" (Journal of Corporate Treasury Management, Henry Stewart Publications, Vol. 4, 4, 2012, pages 311 to 323). Click to read "Pension risk, governance and CFO liability."

Click to read "The Risk Manager" by Elliot A. Fuhr and Christine Wu McDonagh (FTI Journal, April 1, 2012) for a current discussion about the importance of having chief financial officers embrace and support enterprise risk mitigation.

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Economic growth may be anemic but fraud continues to find a life of its own. According to the Financial Fraud Research Center, at least 30 million people are impacted by fraud each year with an annual cost of $100 billion for retail fraud alone.  In a 2011 speech, the head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission discussed how key offices and divisions are working together in all areas of its anti-fraud efforts and how the SEC is collaborating more frequently with state regulators, criminal prosecutors or local nonprofits in an effort to weave these initiatives into an increasingly fine-meshed net that is focused on fighting fraud. While the U.S. Department of Labor is not exclusively focused on fraud, enforcement teams have been busy with a closure of nearly 3,500 civil cases and 302 criminal cases, monetary results of $1.39 billion and 129 indictments.

Surprisingly, there is little information available to institutional and individual investors alike as to how to mitigate the risk of losing money to fraudsters. The goal of this webcast is to empower investors to better protect themselves with knowledge of situations to avoid whenever possible. Attendees will hear experts talk about:

• Common causes of investment fraud;
• Enforcement and litigation trends relating to investment misdeeds;
• Lessons learned from financial scandals of the last decade;
• Role of the investment fiduciary in vetting service providers;
• Red flags to detect poor internal controls that could lead to fraud; and
• Regulatory action to stem financial fraud and preserve the integrity of the capital markets.

Speakers for this 75-minute event include:

• Dr. Susan Mangiero, CFA, FRM – Managing Director, FTI Consulting
• Jonathan Morris, Esq. – Day Pitney LLP / former General Counsel of Barclays Wealth
• Brian Ong – Senior Managing Director, FTI Consulting
• Karen Tyler, North Dakota Securities Commissioner and former president of the North American Securities

To attend this webcast scheduled for Wednesday, June 13, at 1 pm Eastern and sponsored by FTI Consulting, please visit the investment fraud webinar page at http://www.securitiesdocket.com/2012/05/18/june-13-webcast-what-every-fiduciary-needs-to-know-about-how-to-mitigate-investment-fraud-risk/.

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My November 2011 presentation about pension risk, governance and liability to financial executives struck a chord. Part of a Chief Financial Officer ("CFO") conference held at the New York Stock Exchange, attendees alternatively listened with interest while adding their insights from the front lines here and there. It is no wonder.

With ERISA litigation on the rise and 401(k) and defined benefit plan decisions often driving enterprise value in a material way, CFOs and treasurers have accepted the obvious. Corporate governance and pension governance are inextricably linked. Make a bad decision about an employee benefit plan and participants and shareholders alike may suffer. As a result, the CFO is exposed to fiduciary liability, career risk and the economic consequences of an outcome with broad impact.

Rather than rely on luck, there is no better time to apply discipline and rigor to employee benefit plan management for those companies that have not already done so. With trillions of dollars at stake, properly identifying, measuring and mitigating pension risks continues to be a critical element of fiduciary governance.

The complexity and ongoing nature of the risk management process is sometimes overlooked as less important than realizing a particular rate of return. Recent market volatility, large funding deficits and pressures from creditors, shareholders, rating agencies and plan participants make it harder for pension fiduciaries to avoid the adoption of some type of pro-active risk control strategy that effectively integrates asset and liability economics.

In "Pension risk, governance and CFO liability" by Susan Mangiero (Journal of Corporate Treasury Management, Henry Stewart Publications, Vol 4, 4, 2012, pages 311 to 323), the issues relating to a panoply of risks such as actuarial, fiduciary, investment, legal, operational and valuation uncertainties are discussed within a corporate treasury framework. Article sections include:

• Enterprise risk management, employee benefit plans and the role of the CFO;
• Conflicts of interest and pension plan management;
• Risk management principles and 401(k) plans;
• Pension liability and mergers, acquisitions and spinoffs;
• Prudent process;
• Pension risks; and
• Benchmarking success.

Click to download "Pension risk, governance and CFO liability" by Dr. Susan Mangiero, CFA, FRM.

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In the last few years, pension funding levels and 401(k) account balances have fallen dramatically. New disclosure rules, volatile market conditions, investment complexity and mandatory cash contributions are only a few of the many challenges that are unlikely to go away. Not surprisingly, ERISA litigation continues to grow, along with lawsuits related to employee benefit plan governance. Personal liability claims against C-level executives and board members have become the normal.

Join FTI Consulting and the Securities Docket for a timely and informative webinar about the link between employee benefit plan management and shareholder value.

During this 60 minute live event, attendees will learn:

• Why ERISA litigation claims against top executives and board members continue to grow
• How securities litigation and ERISA filings are related and what it means for corporate directors and officers
• What ERISA liability insurance underwriters want clients to demonstrate in terms of best practices
• What steps the Board and top executives can take to minimize their liability
• What investment fiduciary bad practices to avoid
• When to get the CFO and board members involved

The distinguished panel includes (a) Attorney Jim Baker, ERISA litigator of the year for 2012 and a partner with Baker & McKenzie (b) Ms. Rhonda Prussack, EVP and Fiduciary Liability Product Manager for Chartis (c) Mr. Gerry Czarnecki, governance guru and State Farm Insurance board member and (d) Dr. Susan Mangiero, Managing Director with FTI Consulting’s Forensic and Litigation Consulting Practice in New York.

To register for this March 7, 2012 webcast, click here.

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Please join me and fellow panelists on January 24, 2012 fro. 4 to 6 pm for a topical discussion about pension risk management and governance. Given that the last few years have posed unprecedented challenges for plan sponsors, both corporate and public, as well as their asset managers and consultants, life in employee benefit land will never be the same again. Market volatility, low interest rates, increased scrutiny about carrying out fiduciary duties, calls for better disclosure and greater complexity keep pension decision-makers busy.

Hear what legal and financial professionals have to say about what keeps plan sponsors and their advisors and asset managers up at night and how they can implement best practices for pension risk management within a fiduciary framework.

The roster of speakers who will address both defined benefit and defined contribution plan best practices and concerns include:

• Mr. William Carey, President, F-Squared Retirement Solutions
• Attorney Gordon Eng, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, SKY Harbor Capital Management, LLC
• Dr. Susan Mangiero, CFA, FRM, Risk and Valuation Consultant and Expert Witness
• Attorney Martin J. Rosenburgh, CFA

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There are so many interesting insights and analyses we plan to share. It is hard to know where to begin.

We will resume active blogging on January 1, 2012.

In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday season.

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Since I launched my second blog in early 2011 to discuss risk management and investment best practices for a wider institutional audience beyond pension plans alone, I've seldom posted items in both places. Instead, I've tried to provide unique insights for employee benefit plan decision-makers on www.PensionRiskMatters.com and address broader regulatory, litigation and compliance issues on www.GoodRiskGovernancePays.com.

Today is an exception. I am reprinting my comments about risk management on both blogs because I believe so strongly in the importance of effective risk management as an integral component of investment governance. I hope you enjoy reading my comments, originally published on The Glass Hammer website. For those who are not familiar with the group, check out www.TheGlassHammer.com to learn about this award-winning blog and online community created for women executives in finance, law, technology and big business. See below or click on "Thought Leaders: Prioritizing Risk Management" to read the full text of this commentary about the benefits of risk mitigation well done and the costly consequences of inattention or sloppy practices.

Full Text:

Thought Leaders: Prioritizing Risk Management, July 14, 2011, 1:00 pm

Contributed by Susan Mangiero, PhD, Investment Risk Governance Consultant and Author

For those financial institutions which have yet to grasp the importance of identifying, measuring, managing, and monitoring risks on a comprehensive basis, time may not be on their side. Regulators and litigators alike are forcing change.

There are countless individuals who want better information from their service providers about risk and are prepared to vote with their feet if they don’t get good answers. After all, these institutional investors themselves are confronted with a bevy of new mandates that require transparency. The good news is that change opens the door to business opportunities. Enlightened organizations that have good processes in place and have nothing to hide can differentiate themselves from competitors. Providing clients with education and data tools offers yet another way for asset managers, consultants, banks, and advisors to forge stronger relationships with their pension, endowment, foundation and family office clients. On the flip side, those who are reluctant to explain how they manage their financial, operational and legal risks may lose clients or worse yet, could end up as defendants in a lawsuit.

Pay to play conflicts, questions about hidden fees, state and federal legislation and new accounting rules are a few of the forces at work to ensure that trillions of institutional dollars are in good hands. Effective investment stewardship is no longer a luxury. Recent surveys confirm that buy side decision-makers continue to emphasize governance and risk management for their organizations as well as providers of products and services. Institutional investors can ill afford to lose money after a tumultuous few years. Investment committee members who give short shrift to fiduciary duties could end up being investigated by regulators or sued. According to federal court data, the number of ERISA lawsuits is going up. Factor in investment arbitrations, enforcement actions and “piggyback” securities litigation allegations and it is clear that unhappy investors are not going to accept the status quo.

1. Fiduciary Focus

Besides efforts underway by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed an expanded definition of who should serve as a fiduciary to ERISA employee benefit plans. If adopted, countless more professionals will be tasked with demonstrating procedural prudence when it comes to the investment of over $30 trillion in money from corporate retirement plan sponsors. States are likewise seeking change in the form of trust law reforms that tighten accountability for the investment of monies held by endowments, foundations and charities. The questions now being addressed by judges and arbitration panels relate to “excessive” risk-taking, insufficient diversification, absence of independent assessments of hard-to-value instruments and oversight failures that have led to large losses that might have been highly preventable.

One asset management firm recently settled with the SEC for $242 million over a mistake with one of its risk management models. Another firm just settled with the SEC for $200 million due to problems in the way subprime securities were marked. A few years ago, a Northeast pension plan was sanctioned by the DOL for not having thoroughly vetted valuation numbers provided by one of its hedge fund managers.

When I testified before the ERISA Advisory Council in 2008, I emphasized that having good valuation policies and procedures is essential because it impacts so many decisions having to do with asset allocation, hedging and fees paid.

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I am pleased to announce that I will be speaking in an upcoming live phone/web seminar entitled "ERISA Fiduciaries Under Attack: Key Litigation and Regulatory Developments" scheduled for Thursday, June 16, 1:00pm-2:30pm EDT.

Litigation surveys cite breach of fiduciary duties as a fast-growing driver of ERISA lawsuits involving securities fraud and questions about investment-risk governance and prudence. Economic losses and investment complexity are only a few reasons for continued new rules, regulations and claims.

In addition, significantly increased liability exposure is expected due to the SEC's and DOL's focus on expanding the definition of plan fiduciaries.

Evolving case law is putting plan sponsors and service providers in the spotlight as never before with regard to their investment-related processes. Litigation claims are focusing on who is making the investment decisions, and the due-diligence and other procedures these decision-makers use.

My fellow panelists and I developed this program to guide attorneys through the ERISA fiduciary minefields, address best practices for fiduciaries, discuss practical realities regarding case management and settlement, and recommend action steps for counsel to investment committees, board members and the advisers, consultants, appraisers, custodians and managers who provide products and services to employee benefit plan sponsors.

We will offer our perspectives and guidance on these and other critical questions

• When are plans adopting risk management strategies?
• What should the composition of the investment committee be?
• How may an expanded "fiduciary" definition impact potential damages?
• Does Dodd-Frank affect plan-management concerns?
• How should insurance coverage be reviewed and managed?

After our presentations, we will engage in a live question and answer session with participants — so we can answer your questions about these important issues directly.

I hope you'll join us.

Click for more information or to register for this webinar about ERISA litigation.

Sincerely,

Susan Mangiero, PhD, CFA, FRM

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In "New reporting trend may ultimately put pain in rearview mirror" (Retirement Townhall, March 23, 2011), Milliman Inc. executive Bart Pushaw cites "Big Baths and Pension Accounting" by Susan Mangiero (March 9, 2011) and "Rewriting Pension History" by Michael Rapoport (Wall Street Journal, March 9, 2011) in his discussion about pension plan reporting reform. Specifically, Pushaw talks about the convergence of U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP") with international standards and the likelihood that plan sponsors' earnings "would be automatically increased, and expenses decreased, for future years" because of accelerated "hits" when performance is poor. He adds that a move towards more realistic representation of the funding status of a particular defined benefit plan will encourage the use of liability driven investing ("LDI") as a way to "avoid the significant mark-to-market hits that are expected in the future."

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Five years ago, valuation and risk management professional Dr. Susan Mangiero launched the first blog devoted exclusively to the topic of retirement plan governance and investment best practices. This unique blog, www.PensionRiskMatters.com, continues to serve as a resource for ERISA and public plan trustees, board members, actuaries, advisers, attorneys, auditors, consultants, money managers and regulators who want to explore important ideas about pension risk issues within a fiduciary framework.

Since the inception of www.PensionRiskMatters.com, the challenges that confront retirement plan decision-makers continue to mount. The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) each seek to expand the definition and scope of investment fiduciary duties. Pension litigation is on the rise with some lawsuits being certified as class actions and resulting in multi-million dollar settlements. Liability insurance underwriters and federal, state and international regulators are asking tough questions about risk-taking and due diligence. Lawmakers actively examine issues relating to 401(k) fees. Taxpayers worry that more than $3 trillion of unfunded IOUs will strain local budgets. Pay-to-play and other types of conflict of interest investigations grab headlines. Investors worry that bad employee benefit plan economics could roil share prices or thwart corporate mergers.

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Dr. Susan Mangiero, CFA, FRM joins an esteemed panel of speakers as part of "Conflicts in Plan Sponsor and Service Provider Relationships." She is joined by:

• Attorney Michael J. Prame, Groom Law Group
• Attorney Elizabeth J. Bondurant, Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP and
• Attorney Bradley J. Schlichting.

According to the agenda, the panel will address the "unique issues that arise in connection with the provision of services to employee benefit plans, understanding the division of responsibilities and whether discretion has been delegated to the service provider, assessing the fiduciary status of third-part service providers" and much more.

Given current worldwide efforts to broaden the definition of who serves as a fiduciary and a classification of their duties, this panel's purview is timely and important.

Click to visit the American Conference institute website.

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