
Pendia and Frank Russell in Swiss tie-up
SWITZERLAND - Multi-manager Frank Russell has linked-up with Swiss pension and employee benefits consultant Pendia Associates to offer its services to Swiss institutional investors.
The move follows the opening of Russell’s Swiss office at the beginning of the year.
Pendia, which was recently bought-out by consultants Buck Heissmann, will now offer a full range of Russell’s multi-manager solutions.
The move allows Pendia to concentrate on strategic financial management and asset allocation, said Mike McShee, senior partner at Pendia.
“At Pendia, we do not have a team of analysts to handle in-depth manager research on a continuous basis, and so we have been limited in our capacity to offer implementation services to our clients,” he added.
Pendia is looking to offer fully outsourced expertise to Swiss pension fund clients, including administration, accounting, actuarial services, communications and Russell’s investment solutions.
Recently, Spanish consulting firm Novaster also chose Russell as its preferred provider of multi-manager products.
Novaster’s move follows other recent deals in the UK where investment consulting firm Towers Perrin also opted for Russell.
Such deals have already courted much controversy around conflicts of interest as investment consultants effectively lose their independence, according to critics.
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