OCIOs are gaining ground in Canada, but families seeking one need to do their homework and ask the right questions
Anna Sharratt • Canadian Family Offices
Published November 25, 2024
Outsourced chief investment officers (OCIOs) can be a huge asset to Canadian families in managing their investments. An OCIO can help improve performance, reduce costs, free up families to focus on other objectives and meet fiduciary requirements.
They can also provide guidance at a time when the investment industry’s regulatory guidelines are becoming more complex.
But when selecting an OCIO, families and their advisors need to do some homework and ask the right questions.
It’s important for families to get the right fit, says Arthur Salzer, founder, CEO and CIO of Northland Wealth Management in Oakville, Ont. Such due diligence will help ensure that the OCIO meets the firm’s needs.
“Some funds will say that they’re an OCIO and then they will actually be the general partner of some of the funds—say, a real estate fund under a private equity fund,” warns Salzer, adding this could mean a different division of the firm is charging an underlying management fee plus performance fees. “How can you be the best allocator of capital and be the best real estate investor?” he says.
Instead, an OCIO provider should be transparent about their role, the fees they charge, how they operate, and how their firm is structured.
Kevin Foley, managing director, institutional accounts, at YTM Capital in Oakville, Ont., points out that the definition of OCIO is far from uniform.
“Too many have a surprisingly limited breadth of investment options, and too many have a consultant cookie-cutter model that isn’t sufficiently bespoke and does not optimize portfolio risk and return,” he says.
“The good ones are worth every penny and will continue to gain market share because families and institutions absolutely need great partners,” Foley adds.
Experts say clients should be able to have some visibility into an OCIO’s holdings to check what investments are being made. And communication should flow between the OCIO and the family to ensure roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, fees are adequately explained, and reporting is solid, says Brennan Carson, partner and portfolio manager with Equate Asset Management, an OCIO based in Toronto.
“If you are going to hire an OCIO, everybody needs to map out how this is going to work and how you’re going to work together, first and foremost,” Carson says.
How to choose wisely
Families should examine the firm’s skills, past performance and level of transparency, says Bruce Friesen, president, Global Investment Solutions, in Oakville, Ont. This process can also uncover red flags, he says.
A comfort level. Families might be wary of handing the investment reins over to a third party provider, says Carson. “There is probably going to be a comfort issue: They still want to have control, but without having to drive the car,” he says. OCIOs need to fully communicate their aims, answer every question and put their clients at ease to ensure a smooth transition, he adds.
Clear language. “It’s very easy for these guys to roll into investor speak, and it’s a whole different language all to itself,” says Freisen. OCIOs that can explain difficult investment concepts plainly and simply can streamline the onboarding process and forge a solid relationship with a family more quickly, he adds.
Transparency about roles and responsibilities. Carson says the OCIO and the family have to understand each others’ roles—in other words, “what we want from the other person and how often we want it.” In many cases it takes families some time to adjust to a new way of doing things, so having all information upfront can reap dividends. “It takes time for them to really get the nuance, the flow of who does what,” he says.
A good track record.
“You want a firm that’s got 10-plus years of doing it, that has experience allocating capital to public markets and private markets,” says Salzer. “You need a team that represents you, the investor, in putting that capital to work with partners that have that ability to be honest and forthcoming.”
Proof of performance. Friesen suggests asking the prospective OCIO for graphics that show their asset mix over time for equities, bonds and alternative investments. If they show exactly the same mix every month of the year, that’s a sign you shouldn’t hire them, he says. “They should be adapting their portfolio over time to the current market conditions—you want an OCIO who rebalances the new portfolio for today’s environment,” he adds. Craig Harrison, president of Global Manager Research in Oakville, Ont., agrees. “You want an OCIO manager who understands markets. They can’t be a fixed-income specialty guy, they can’t be an equity guy—they’ve got be a ‘go anywhere guy,’” he says. It’s key that families hire someone who understands all asset classes.
Access to competitive fees. Be sure to ask OCIOs whether investors will have access to group or investor discounts or potential access to partnerships they may not have been able to access before.
Lower investment minimums.
Families need to know the rules of engagement. “Many private institutional grade managers have minimums per investor of $10 to $20 million U.S. dollars,” says Salzer. “So even if you have a $100-million portfolio, you still can’t properly allocate to managers across vintages, across asset classes, at those sizes of checks.” He says families don’t want to be in a position where they’re overcommitted and “you don’t have the capital to meet capital calls,” he says.
Good listening skills. Having an OCIO who wants “to talk first and listen second, wants to impose a viewpoint on what they plan to do for that family, without really stopping to understand first,” is a red flag, says Carson. OCIOs who spend time selling clients on products rather than listening to exactly what they are requesting means the family won’t end up with a tailored, customized offering.
Solid security.
Salzer says families need to ask how reporting is done, how it’s consolidated, and what the security of the OCIO’s reporting systems looks like. He suggests asking questions such as: “Do we have access through portals? Do we have access to reporting through ILS apps? And then, what type of underlying encryption is involved so that our data can’t be compromised?” He says the best firms will always pay for an extra level of security.
Families should ensure all questions are answered and issues are addressed before signing with an OCIO. That establishes the framework for a solid and productive partnership.
“I think that an important part of laying the tracks for a good relationship is a lot of listening and laying out that timeframe of which of these steps are priorities,” Carson says, “and how they’re going to be implemented.”
See Part 1 in this two-part series of articles, – Outsourced CIOs gain traction among Canadian family offices, foundations.