Industry Resources

The challenges of investing are both technical and human. To excel, endowment stewards must be as attentive to potential land mines in governance as they are to those in global markets.

The Greenwich Roundtable has released a thoughtful paper, Best Governance Practices in Delegation and Consultant Selection for Long-Term Funds, which includes a solid sample RFP.

Among the most important decisions a fiduciary body may be called upon to make is whether or not to outsource its organization's investment program, and which outsourced CIO to choose.

As outsourcing of the CIO role has gained momentum in recent years, with a throng of new entrants in the outsourcing arena, organizations needing an outsourced CIO (OCIO) are using traditional RFPs to identify suitable candidates.

Many institutions rely on one or more large pools of investments to support their operations.

A culture of good investment governance is based on the shared objectives, mutual respect, judgment and experience of the group of people working together to fulfill fiduciary responsibilities.

Defining Investments Outsourcing Investments outsourcing takes on many shapes and is often defined differently by various market participants.

Poor governance by investment committees and asset management organizations often takes the form of other maladies, such as high turnover, high costs, performance-chasing, or rigid and counterproductive decision rules. These are often symptoms of broader governance ills.