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Pension / Investment Management

FAQs

1. What are the New York City Pension Funds?

A number of Pension Funds provide benefits for New York City employees, retirees and beneficiaries. The City’s primary employee Pension Funds are the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS), the Teachers’ Retirement System for the City of New York (TRS), the New York City Police Pension Fund (POLICE), New York City Fire Department Pension Fund (FIRE), and the New York City Board of Education Retirement System (BERS). Each Pension Fund is financially independent of the others and has its own board of trustees. Each Fund provides its members the benefits to which they are legally entitled. These benefits are financed through contributions from members, participating employers, and investment earnings of the Funds.

2. Who are the Trustees of the Retirement Boards?

Each of the five New York City Pension Funds has its own Board of Trustees comprised of elected and appointed officials and union representatives.

3. What types of investments are made by the Pension Funds?

In accordance with the Systems’ asset allocations, the Pension Funds invest in a variety of asset classes, including but not limited to US equity, US fixed income, and international equity.

4. How are Asset Allocations determined?

Each of the five New York City Retirement Systems has its own Board of Trustees who, working with the Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management, the New York City Office of the Actuary and the Board’s consultants, make decisions on the funds’ asset allocations based on factors including economic risk, return, performance, and beneficiary distributions.

5. How are investments made?

Most funds are allocated to investment managers who execute the investment directives of the Boards of Trustees of each of the five Pension Funds.

6. Do the Pension Funds work with investment-related consultants?

Yes. The Systems generally have different consultants for different asset classes. The consultants and the New York City Retirement Systems that they serve are listed below for each asset class.

TRS NYCERS POLICE FIRE BERS
Public Equity Rocaton Investment Advisors Callan Associates Wilshire Associates New England Pension Consultants Segal Marco
Public Fixed Income Rocaton Investment Advisors Callan Associates Wilshire Associates New England Pension Consultants Segal Marco
Private Equity Hamilton Lane StepStone Group StepStone Group StepStone Group N/A
Real Estate Courtland, a StepStone company Courtland, a StepStone company The Townsend Group The Townsend Group Courtland, a StepStone company
Infrastructure StepStone Group StepStone Group StepStone Group StepStone Group StepStone Group
Hedge Funds N/A N/A Aksia Aksia N/A
Alternative Credit Rocaton Investment Advisors Callan Associates Wilshire Associates New England Pension Consultants Segal Marco

7. What does the Risk Management team do?

The Risk Management team is responsible for identifying and quantifying risks in the pension portfolio, as well as creating a framework to measure investment performance. The Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management currently utilizes a factor model to perform scenario analysis and is in the process of procuring a more comprehensive risk-analytics framework.

8. What does the Corporate Governance team do?

The Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment team develops and implements the corporate governance programs for the five New York City Pension Funds, including voting proxies, engaging portfolio companies on their environmental, social and governance policies and practices, and advocating for regulatory reforms to protect investors and strengthen shareowner rights.

9. What are Economically Targeted Investments?

New York City Pension Funds have been successfully and prudently invested in many Economically Targeted Investments (ETIs), which are designed to benefit low-, moderate- and middle income New Yorkers. These investments, in addition to financing the renovation or new construction of affordable housing, create thousands of construction jobs.

10. How are City Treasury Funds Managed for the City of New York?

In addition to Pension Funds, the Comptroller invests City government cash in excess of compensatory balance requirements and not immediately needed to cover expenses (pursuant to instructions from the New York City Department of Finance) in short-term securities, including U.S. Treasury and Agency securities and high grade commercial paper.

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