Investment Governance Blog

Duty to Balance Risk and Return

A Business Manager's Duty to Monitor the Risk and Return of their Clients' Investment Portfolios

The Problem: You are a business manager and it is either explicitly or implicitly the case that you are responsible for monitoring the activities of the investment managers that have...
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Trust But Verify: Do Private Equity and Hedge Funds Deliver Superior Risk-adjusted Returns?

For several decades, the investment industry has promoted the virtues of hedge funds and private equity funds for large instructional investors and ultra high net worth individuals. But over the...
Verify

ERISA 1104(a)(1)(B) re Duty to Prudently Delegate

A trustee has a duty to prudently invest the plan assets on behalf of the beneficiaries. However, few trustees actually take on this complex responsibility alone. In most cases the...
RiskApocalypse

UPIA §2(b) – Duty to Monitor Risk and Return

The Duty The preamble to the Uniform Prudent Investor Act notes, “The tradeoff in all investing between risk and return is identified as the fiduciary's central consideration.”  For most trustees...
RiskApocalypse

ERISA §1104(a)(1)(c): Duty to balance risk and return with Alternative Investments

Prudence not Prescience Trustees are required to make hard investment decisions. They are to take into consideration the risk of loss and the opportunity for gain associated with each particular...
Advice

Prudent Delegation Standard of Care: Registered Investment Advisor v. Registered Representative

In the same way a trustee owes duties of care and loyalty to the beneficiaries of a trust, the investment managers also owe a particular standard of care to the...
Diversification

ERISA §1104(a)(1)(C) re Diversification

US Code §1104(a)(1)(C) states, “A fiduciary shall discharge his duties with respect to a plan solely in the interest of the participants and beneficiaries… by diversifying the investments of the...
Pirate

UPIA §7 re Duty to Pay Only Fair Fees

“Wasting beneficiaries' money is imprudent. In devising and implementing strategies for the investment and management of trust assets, trustees are obligated to minimize costs” (National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform...
business manager's duties of care

Johnny Depp v. TMG: What are a business manager’s duties of care?

The Question: What standard of care and what attendant duties does a business manager owe to their client? The Answer: It depends on what roles and services the business manager...