Man Practices What It Preaches, To A Point

Man Group knows a thing or two about hedge funds, though its pension plan consultant thinks it knows best. CEO Stanley Fink says if he had his druthers, he would allocate between 20% and 30% of his firm’s €385 million (US$484.2 million) pension fund to hedge funds with the rest in traditional equity allocations. But, Reuters reports, the consultant for the world’s largest hedge fund group, Watson Wyatt, says nothing doing, and when WW speaks, Fink listens, because his firm wants to follow industry “best practices.” As a result, Man’s pension HF allocation will remain at 13% (with no exposure to private equity or any other alternative investment for that matter). Speaking at a Reuters-sponsored lecture, Fink did get his dig into the consulting profession in general. He said actuaries have “constantly and consistently underestimated the increase in human mortality.... They’ve consistently been wrong.” He added, “If you’re as accurate with your investment advice as you are on actuarial matters, I’ll know to do the opposite.”