More Large DB Plan Sponsors Adopting Fiduciary Solutions

Demand for fiduciary solutions—in which Russell assumes full fiduciary and discretionary responsibility for portfolio construction, implementation and manager selection—continues to remain high for smaller DB plans, nonprofits, health service organizations and multiemployer plans. Meanwhile, the larger end of the DB market is now more actively considering and embracing the benefits that a discretionary multi-asset manager can provide, the firm said. In 2011, 18% of Russell’s completed requests for proposals, excluding nonprofits, were for assignments with plans above the $500 million asset mark, but in the first six months of 2012, that number has more than doubled to 42%.  

“We are continuing to see as much demand —if not more than we have ever seen—from smaller DB plans, nonprofits, health service organizations and multiemployer plans, but now larger plans are considering fiduciary solutions to a much greater extent than they were several years ago,” said Joseph Gelly, managing director, fiduciary solutions.