EUROPE - Towers Watson is rolling out Asset-Liability Tracker, an online tool that will allow pension funds to take decisions about liability-driven investment strategies in a timelier manner through email communications.

The rollout complements Towers Watson's dynamic de-risking service, which is increasingly seen as a must-have by consultants and is also offered by competitors such as Mercer, which developed its service in autumn 2009.

Alasdair Macdonald, head of UK investment strategy at Towers Watson, said the consultancy was introducing the concept in a phased process to its clients.

"The potential opportunity cost of not implementing a pre-planned de-risking process can be huge, so this information tool allows funds greater control of their funding strategy," he said.

"This goes beyond the old strategy of monitoring the funding level on a quarterly basis to provide daily monitoring of funding level and value-at-risk."

MacDonald emphasised that the tool was aimed at larger and mid-sized pension funds that have a full-time member of staff - not necessarily a CIO - who is able to make best use of the information.

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