CACEIS has a long track record in working with pension schemes. Today, we partner with all types of pension schemes across Europe and the UK, providing solutions such as custody, administration, securities lending, foreign exchange and reporting.
At the heart of our strategy is a focus on how we can be useful to pension schemes and provide them with support on their regulatory obligations, control and oversight of their assets, reporting needs and meet their requirements not only today, but also tomorrow.
A key driver for pension schemes is the diversification into alternative assets, where asset allocations globally have increase from 12% in 2003 to 20% today[1]. Against this backdrop, around 83% of asset owners struggle to include assets private markets within their operational models[2]. Government policy on green financing across Europe is also having an influence on pension funds. By encouraging more sustainable investment, systemic risks such as climate change and biodiversity loss are explicitly brought to the fore , and the demand for quicker and more transparent reporting is rapidly growing.
What this all means is that pension schemes need the flexibility to be agile on the investment side. They require more information in a faster timeframe and they need it in more detail than ever before. Furthermore, there is increasing demand for transparency on performance, risk and sustainability, placing greater emphasis on good quality information and quicker reporting.
Preparing pension schemes for tomorrow
How do we provide a scalable solution for pension schemes so they can evolve their operational requirements as the market environment changes?
“The CACEIS Pensions Centre is a unique service proposition for pension schemes across Europe. It includes a central hub of pensions and investment professionals who understand the unique needs of pension schemes. They’re supported by on-the-ground pensions specialists that have close proximity to our clients across Europe and the UK. The collective expertise across all our pensions specialists, who are dedicated to serving the evolving needs of pension schemes, is an asset that really sets us apart” commented Wouter Peters, Group Head of Operational Line, Pensions Centre.
Sitting behind our people is market leading technology, with a fully integrated front-to-back solution with investment at its core. We start from a SaaS (software as a service) front-office support solution, all the way to the investment book of records, performance, risk, financial record keeping, and reporting – using one source of data.
What really makes this different is that we cover both traditional and alternative asset classes on one single platform, providing pension schemes with the ability to transform and streamline their operational and reporting processes.
A view from the ground
Developing long term partnerships with our clients is a core part of our service approach. As we onboard pension schemes, we place significant emphasis on our consultative style - our teams work with clients so they can get the most out of the CACEIS Pensions Centre capabilities.
How we have actually delivered is illustrated through these following examples:
“We work with all pension scheme structures in the UK from governance reporting on areas like cost transparency and climate risk, to custody and administration. We recently on-boarded Bedfordshire Pension Fund, with both in-custody and out-of-custody assets across traditional and alternative funds for around €4.5bn assets under management. We delivered substantial improvements in the reporting delivery times", James Parish, Head of UK Pension Sales.
"Last year, we onboarded Blue Sky Group and transformed the efficiency of their operational processes. They move from six systems to one system for portfolio and risk management, creating more agility and reducing operational risks", Rinke Visser, Head of Regional Coverage Netherlands.
"In Germany we won a large Pension client from a multinational corporation existing of 4 different pension entities and with different underlying trustees. We will deliver highly sophisticated reporting across their securities and alternatives positions with breakdowns across all the entities and trustees for the approx. €6 bn mandate. Besides the improved and flexible reporting, we assist their in-house asset management teams by providing further services such as look-through", Daniel Schepp, Head of German Pension Sales.
We also look to demonstrate our commitment to pensions through initiatives such as the CACEIS European Pensions Summit, which we’re hosting in Oxford, England. We’ve partnered with the Smith School in Oxford to give senior pensions leaders access to some of the brightest minds on climate and biodiversity risks. It’s another way we continually focus on adding value, and reinforces that pension schemes are a key strategic area of focus for CACEIS.
[1] Willis Towers Watson Global Pensions Study
[2] Source: SimCorp Dimension
