Consultants that offer a variety of services are not able to effectively manage conflicts, according to 75% of pension funds surveyed by Global Pensions. While three-quarters of those polled were “skeptical” about conflict management, 31% said it was “less likely” they would retain a multi-service consultant. More than half (53%) of respondents said in order to be comfortable with such a consultant, they would have to be sure there were sufficient Chinese walls; 11% said they would “never” hire such a consultant, while 19% said they were confident conflicts could be managed and 5% said the multi-manager issues would not influence their decision to hire a consultant. Andrew Kirton of Mercer Investment Consulting, a multi-service consultant, responded to the survey by telling Global Pensions, “It’s up to us to demonstrate we can serve new needs in the market whilst ensuring we continue to do a first rate job as a trusted adviser to existing consulting clients.”