While liability driven investing (LDI) has received a lot of attention, only 20% of those pension plans polled are currently implementing LDI strategies and 33% are not even considering implementing an LDI approach, according to an SEI Global Quick Poll released today.

LDI strategies are used to align pension liabilities with plan assets. The fact that organizations are slow to implement is a contradiction of the stated global need for LDI as nearly three quarters (72%) of those polled indicate they want the asset pool to provide some level of support to their pension’s liability.

The poll, sponsored by SEI, confirms that global pension sponsors agree they are not primarily focused on return based benchmarks and want the benefits of an LDI approach, but they are struggling to implement. The Netherlands appears to be ahead of other countries when it comes to employing LDI strategies as nearly two-thirds (64%) are currently implementing or will implement an LDI approach this year. A total of 21% of Canadian respondents said they are currently employing an LDI approach and only an additional 7% said they will be this year.

“It’s clear that plan sponsors want the benefits of an investment strategy that is focused on supporting the pension’s liabilities and the lack of implementation raises the question as to whether or not they are receiving adequate advice and direction,” says Andrew Kitchen, managing director, strategies and solutions. “In Canada, the level of investment expertise and resources required for LDI implementation is daunting, particularly when combined with a high level of plan design changes and the new funding and accounting rules. In order to realize the desired benefits of LDI, organizations will need to consider changes to overall plan management to enable the execution of these strategies.

Canadian plan sponsors are challenged when it comes to pension management and LDI implementation appears to only increase complexities. In Canada, 65% of those plans polled are open to new entrants and 84% are not planning any plan design changes in the future. This longer term outlook and new funding rules seem to support the need for LDI as Canadian responses were in line with global percentages which saw 79% agree the goal of LDI is to control volatility of the plan’s funded status and 46% said it was to control contribution and/or pension expense.

The poll administered by SEI’s Pension Management Research Panel, surveyed 226 executives overseeing pensions with assets ranging from US$30 million to over US$5 billion. The executives represented four countries — Canada, Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States.