Sunday, May 15, 2005

SEC Targets Pensions

Financial Services
SEC Targets Pensions
Neil Weinberg, 05.15.05, 11:10 AM ET

NEW YORK - Now the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is taking on the pension business.

The SEC will release a report Monday morning outlining the results of an 18-month investigation of pension fund consultants that recommends closer scrutiny of their businesses with enforcement action likely to follow, according to people familiar with the situation.

The expected action involves companies that advise public and private pension funds how to allocate trillions of dollars in investments and which money managers to hire. Many of the consultants receive compensation both from the pension funds they advise and the money managers they recommend. This has led to accusations that "pay-to-play" is rampant among consultants. Critics charge they favor money managers who buy services from them. The consultants have denied such bias.

No comments: