More than half of pension schemes are planning to re-evaluate their relationship with their investment consultant in the wake of the FCA's Asset Management Market Study according to a recent SEI poll.

The survey follows a pledge by the FCA to consult on its provisional view to reject consultants’ undertakings in lieu to avoid referral to the Competition and Markets Authority, and reveals that 54 per cent of trustees are planning to re-evaluate their relationship with their investment consultant.

More than 87 per cent of respondents said they will review their consultant in 2018 or 2019. The survey also found that 60 per cent of respondents would consider a different model for their pension scheme outside the traditional consulting model.

“The FCA’s final report again highlighted the inherent conflicts of interest in the investment consulting business model, and revealed the regulator’s preference to continue with its original proposal to refer the sector to the CMA," SEI institutional group EMEA and Asia Patrick Disney said.

"While that view is currently open to public consultation, our survey clearly indicates that the majority of trustees we polled have become concerned enough about the issues raised in the report to re-evaluate their relationship with their consultant and consider an alternative to the traditional investment consulting model."

SEI’s poll was completed in late June and early July 2017 by 35 UK pensions professionals, including trustees, chair of trustees, financial directors, and head of pensions overseeing defined benefit pension schemes ranging in asset size from £20m to £6bn.

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