Industry News

In May 2019, the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS) released its revised report on “Best Governance Practices for Public Retirement Systems.” NCPERS developed the governance practices to assist plan fiduciaries improve pension fund performance, while addressing risks related to changing markets and the global economy. The best practices focus on accountability, consistency and transparency, which are intended to improve performance and risk oversight for the benefit of members, taxpayers and other stakeholders.

The best practices include:

• Governance Manual – to be maintained as a central repository of the fund’s primary governance documents for trustees and stakeholders in either electronic or paper form.
• Board Practices – to establish, document and promote adherence to practices which impact the fund’s investment and operational performance and risk oversight.
• Board Policies – to help guide system operations toward stated goals within established risk tolerances.
• Risk Oversight – to adopt a risk management policy that defines risk categories, accountabilities and reporting.
• Strategic Planning – to establish long-term goals and performance measures with an implementation plan to achieve those goals.
• Reporting Key Performance and Risk Measures – to assess the fund’s progress related to actuarial, administrative, audit compliance and investment goals.
• Stakeholder Communications – to provide transparency regarding fund operations and help improve member satisfaction through reports and surveys.
• In addition to other revisions, the report includes a Model Risk Management Framework that provides an example of best practices that funds use to manage risk across investment program exposures and functions.

The report is available here.