Our investment managers

We build strategic partnerships with external investment managers who are aligned to our members' interests.

Last updated: 25 Sep 2024

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Our external managers invest according to individual mandates we set that address our specific portfolio requirements. These mandates provide direction to the type of investments to be held, the maximum and minimum holdings for each investment type, target rates of return, and risk limits—requiring them to build what our members need in a tailored way.

Manager selection

We select investment managers for their specific expertise.
We consider the economics of the managers’ business—their assets under management (AUM) capacity, fees, whether they are a price-setter, as well as their culture and incentivisation structures.
We maintain a smaller number of strategic relationships with external specialists to leverage and engage their expertise at a deeper level, rather than monitor/receive information from large ‘commodity’ providers.
We aim to align external agencies with our members’ interests, and we build partnerships with external managers to be outcome owners.

Your specialist investment teams around the world

Local knowledge and expertise in the regions in which our investments operate is critical to selecting and managing those investments.

We are able to match the right people, with specialist skills, to oversee management of the different risks that are part of every investment we make for our members.

We have developed a comprehensive and objective qualitative and quantitative scoring system to assess managers.

This includes:

complementary managers who can improve the net outcomes;
replacement managers who are superior to existing managers and should replace them; and
bench managers who are equal in quality to existing managers.

When partnering with skilled external investment managers and operators we look for:

An ability to look ahead

Unique insights: about the key moving parts of their markets.
Effective implementation: an ability to convert those insights and ideas into real wealth.
Integrated risk management: an awareness and genuine capacity to pro–actively manage and reduce the risks involved in selecting and managing assets over the long-term.
Capable team culture: having the right skills; a keen self–awareness of strengths and weaknesses; diversity of thinking for robust challenge of ideas; and the appropriate incentives to align investment team success with your objectives.

Insights that are sustainable over time

Clear communication of how value can be created for our members and why this can be repeated over the long term.
A process for continual improvement in the way they invest.

Alignment between their success and yours

Fees and remuneration structures that reward investment performance, defined in terms of increased returns to our members and reduced risk borne by our members.
Portfolios that are managed within the constraints and guidelines we establish.
Robust legal, compliance and operational systems that mean our members are not exposed to unnecessary business risks.

We apply these criteria to both potential new external investment partners as well as those we currently use. If managers cannot meet these fundamental requirements, CSC will not partner with them.