services

For a reasonable retainer, Institutional Investing Enhancement (IIE) can serve as a plan’s Chief Investment Officer on a non-discretionary basis, reporting to an investment committee or Board. IIE will provide the following essential duties:

  • Schedule and organize regular meetings.
  • Prepare pre- and post-meeting materials and make recommendations for action items and investments.
  • Monitor and evaluate existing choices and address essential fiduciary duties throughout the year.
  • Implement committee decisions and follow-through.

Institutional Investing Enhancement (IIE) can provide trusted advice to help Boards and Investment Committees have effective, fiduciary meetings and decisions. IIE can advise on:

  • The topics and means to address the matters of investment committee gatherings efficiently, fully and fairly, comprehensively, and consistently.
  • Ensuring the trustees understand their roles, are regularly trained and re-trained, and the questions to ask to provide valuable oversight and avoid stakeholder and participant dissatisfaction.
  • Emerging and pressing issues, such as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) considerations.

 

Institutional Investing Enhancement (IIE) can also help organizations improve the quality of their operations and management practices. Over time, people and processes
can become inefficient and outdated. IIE can advise on how to:

  • Evaluate and improve the organization/effectiveness of the preparation for and
    holding of investment meetings and decision-making processes.
  • Upgrade the overview of their investments in terms of performance, risk, and
    expense through better, more informative scheduled reports for the committees
    and Board.

 

Institutional Investing Enhancement (IIE) provides independent and expert advice to improve the investment choices of institutional portfolios, including retirement plans.

IIE can also evaluate current investment consultants, asset managers, and other portfolio or plan service providers.

    • IIE examines the investment components of institutional portfolios, including lineups of 401(k)s or other defined contribution or defined benefit plans.
    • IIE’s clients receive advice on how to improve their investment choices to reach their objectives based on portfolio allocation and interaction, the range of choice in the line-up, and the performance, risk, and cost of each constituent holding, relative to peers and benchmarks.

If recommended and required, IIE will conduct a thorough and professional Request for Proposal (RFP) or Request for Information (RFI) process on the client’s behalf.

Steve Deutsch, through Institutional Investing Enhancement LLC (IIE), can serve on portfolio and plan investment committees, providing assurance to plan investors, participants, and beneficiaries that an independent expert outsider will act in their best interests in a diplomatic, reasonable, and professional manner. 

Independent fiduciary financial advisors serving on investment committees are legally and ethically required to act in their clients’ best interests. They have no conflicts of interest, do not endorse investments that provide kickbacks, and do not simply accept “suitable” choices. In the United States, the advisory role is recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor, among others, through Section 3(21) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), which establishes a relationship or arrangement that allows a fiduciary to expertly advise the committee but not execute decisions on its behalf. 

With their independence and expertise in administering portfolios, making effective decisions and steady progress, and understanding regulatory priorities and investment industry trends, independent fiduciary members can provide a number of benefits to investment committees:

  • Assurance to plan sponsors, investors, and participants: An independent fiduciary member can provide assurance that the investment committee is acting in the best interests of plan participants and beneficiaries. This is especially important for plans with large numbers of participants, where individual investors may not have the time or expertise to evaluate the investment committee’s decisions.
  • Expertise in administering portfolios and making effective decisions: Independent fiduciary members typically have years of experience in the investment industry and can provide valuable expertise to investment committees. This can be especially helpful for committees that are responsible for managing complex portfolios or that are looking to implement new investment strategies.
  • Understanding of regulatory priorities and investment industry trends: Independent fiduciary members can help investment committees stay up-to-date on the latest regulatory requirements and investment industry trends. This can help committees make informed investment decisions that are aligned with their fiduciary duties.

To benefit portfolio and plan sponsors, investors, and participants alike, IIE will ensure that a prudent and smart recipe is followed to meet key fiduciary duties on a regular basis, including:

  • Risk-adjusted returns in a peer and benchmark comparison
  • Costs
  • Services being provided proficiently and to the satisfaction of all
  • Full written disclosure and transparency

IIE can also serve a useful role in contributing to or resolving concerns about conflicts of interest, often for example, when employer stock is a component of the plan.

Overall, the addition of an independent fiduciary member to a buy-side investment committee can provide a number of benefits to plan sponsors, investors, and participants alike.