Investment Outsourcing Grows at Northern Trust

As institutional investors confront the heightened challenges of increased complexity and constrained resources in their investment programs, Northern Trust Asset Management has experienced rapid growth in outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) services, adding $13 billion in assets from 19 new clients over the past year.

New clients for OCIO services provided by the Multi-Manager Solutions group at Northern Trust Asset Management include corporate defined benefit pensions, a multi-employer pension plan, family offices and not-for-profit institutions in the United States, Canada and Europe. The new clients, added in the 12 months ending March 31, 2014, bring Multi-Manager Solutions to more than $90 billion in assetsi.

“We see growing interest in outsourced CIO services from corporations, foundations, endowments, global family offices and health care organizations,” said Joseph W. McInerney, head of Multi-Manager Solutions at Northern Trust Asset Management. “From mid-sized plans to those over $1 billion in assets, institutions are looking for an outsourcing partner with deep expertise in the design and implementation of sophisticated investment programs and a fiduciary approach to the oversight of those programs.”

Northern Trust Asset Management is a leading provider of investment outsourcing, leveraging a multi-manager practice founded 35 years ago to support institutional demand for a trusted advisor that avoids conflicts of interest by using best-in-class external managers for actively managed strategies. Multi-Manager Solutions invests with more than 300 external managers worldwide, including specialists across the spectrum of traditional and alternative asset classes and strategies. Using this platform, Northern Trust Asset Management can develop strategies to meet varied investment objectives, such as a foundation seeking higher returns over an extended time horizon, or a pension balancing return-seeking elements with specialized strategies intended to hedge changes in pension liabilities.

“A key driver of growth in outsourcing has been corporate pension plans, which seek to secure the gains they have made in funded status through ‘de-risking’ strategies, shifting from equities to fixed income investments,” said John McCareins, Practice Lead and Senior Client Investment Officer at Northern Trust Asset Management.

“Organizations irrespective of size recognize that pensions are not their core competency, and they see in Northern Trust a partner with the financial strength and investment expertise to help them accomplish their goals,” McCareins said. “Our solution features in-house actuarial expertise to design a strategy that reduces the expected volatility of cash contributions and pension expense, and leverages our capability for evaluating and combining world-class managers to implement the strategy.”

In addition to investment outsourcing, Multi-Manager Solutions at Northern Trust offers extensive capabilities in emerging manager programs, risk oversight for environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and registered funds investing in asset classes including developed markets equities, infrastructure, emerging markets debt and global real estate.

Asset Management at Northern Trust comprises Northern Trust Investments, Inc., Northern Trust Global Investments Limited, Northern Trust Global Investments Japan, K.K., NT Global Advisors, Inc. and investment personnel of The Northern Trust Company of Hong Kong Limited and The Northern Trust Company.

About Northern Trust

Northern Trust Corporation (Nasdaq: NTRS) is a leading provider of investment management, asset and fund administration, banking solutions and fiduciary services for corporations, institutions and affluent individuals worldwide. Northern Trust, a financial holding company based in Chicago, has offices in 18 states, Washington, D.C., and 18 international locations in Canada, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. As of March 31, 2014, Northern Trust had assets under custody of US$5.8 trillion, and assets under investment management of US$915.4 billion. For more than 120 years, Northern Trust has earned distinction as an industry leader in combining exceptional service and expertise with innovative products and technology. For more information, visit www.northerntrust.com or follow us on Twitter @NorthernTrust.

Northern Trust Corporation, Head Office: 50 South La Salle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60603 U.S.A., incorporated with limited liability in the U.S. Global legal and regulatory information can be found at http://www.northerntrust.com/disclosures

i $50 billion in assets under management and approximately $40 billion under advisement.