April 26, 2022 | Stamford, CT — Amid continued disruptions from the COVID-19 crisis and concerns about mounting inflation, U.S. asset owners leaned more heavily on the advice of their investment consultants last year. The 2021 Greenwich Quality Leaders in U.S. Investment Consulting stood out for the superior support they provided to clients working to navigate fast-changing markets.
By many counts, 2021 was a great year for asset owners. Surging equity returns helped lift pension funding levels, with average funding increasing to 96% in 2021 from 92% in 2020 among corporate funds and to 81% from 79% among public funds. As of year-end, 39% of corporate funds and 12% of public funds reported funding levels of at least 100%.
These relatively favorable conditions helped alleviate anxieties about market volatility, rates of return, funding issues, and risk management. However, with the Omicron variant spreading through the U.S., continued chaos in global supply chains and inflation accelerating at dangerous pace, asset owners were not resting easy last year.
As they updated investment strategies in these changing conditions, 80% of asset owners relied on their investment consultants as their primary source of advice. That’s an increase from the 71% who named consultants as their top source of investment counsel and advice in 2020.
Investment consultants are also playing an active role in advising asset owners on ESG. Half of U.S. asset owners in North America have adopted some environmental, social and governance standards, up from just 27% in 2019.
“Consultants continue to play an active role helping asset owners work through thorny issues related to balancing liquidity needs with increasing private markets allocations, positioning the portfolio for an inflationary environment, as well as how to integrate ESG into their manager selection process,” says Davis Walmsley, Head of Investment Management at Coalition Greenwich.
2021 Greenwich Quality Leaders in Overall U.S. Investment Consulting
The 2021 Greenwich Quality Leaders in Overall U.S. Investment Consulting stood out for the superior support they provided to clients working to navigate fast-changing markets. The 2021 Greenwich Quality Leaders for the ‘Large Consultant’ category are Graystone Consulting, RVK and Segal Marco Advisors and the winners for the ‘Midsize Consultant’ category are AndCo Consulting, Angeles Investment Advisors, Asset Consulting Group, and LCG Associates.