Chris Sier
OpinionSmall schemes lagging larger peers on cost transparency
Data crunch: The release last week of the government’s response to the ‘Review of the default fund charge cap and standardised cost disclosure’ has resulted in me being repeatedly asked for my thoughts on the conclusions.
OpinionCost data collection – is it all worth it?
Data crunch: Cost data collection is valuable even just as source of analysis, such as this series of articles. But how should schemes actually use their own data?
OpinionWhat role does culture play in value for money?
Data crunch: I have previously stated that not all managers are equally willing or able to give data, and some are better in both attitude and application than others.
OpinionThe £1bn myth: how scheme-level costs change with size
Building scale in pensions is a commonly cited goal by policymakers. The logic that bigger schemes incur lower costs makes logical sense, but is not often tested in practice.
OpinionDoes paying more deliver more performance?
You get what you pay for, right? As far as fund management is concerned, this old adage does not quite ring true, although as ever there are some caveats.
OpinionEconomies of scale: do they exist?
Data crunch: Does size matter? Many fund products come with tiered fee structures, leading to the mantra that the larger the mandate, the lower the unit cost.
OpinionSegregated mandates – a club for large pension schemes only
With a few exceptions, most pension schemes do not go overboard with the number of asset management products they use.
OpinionAsset allocation analysis reveals UK’s governance weakness
Recently, I was tinkering with the asset allocation data for a large sample of defined benefit pension schemes and ‘accidentally’ came across an interesting, and possibly controversial, story relating to asset allocation.
OpinionIf you think you know your costs, you could be wrong - UPDATED
Data crunch: The third of Dr Chris Sier's insights into cost transparency gets right to the heart of the issue: just how much of a pension schemes total costs were previously unknown?
OpinionNot all asset managers are created equal
Data crunch: In the first piece of this series, I stated that asset managers were not the problem when it comes to cost collection. That said, not all managers are equally committed to, or enthusiastic about, transparency.
OpinionAsset managers are no longer the problem on cost transparency
Data crunch: Is the Cost Transparency Initiative a success? Market-wide adoption of a data standard might seem like it can only be a good thing, but there are plenty of detractors out there.