LONDON, 22 April 2013 – Over 165 fund managers with a combined AUM of £14 trillion attended the annual conference held by the investment consulting practice of Aon Hewitt, the global talent, retirement and health solutions business of Aon plc (NYSE: AON).

The conference, held last week, offered Aon Hewitt the opportunity to share its observations on the markets, trends in fund management and institutional investment, while also taking in the views of the fund management community.

Lennox Hartman, global head of fixed income research, at Aon Hewitt said:

“The calibre of delegates attending our annual conferences continues to be very high. This year the theme of searching for yield and diversification took centre stage, driven by the continuing trend away from equities and into fixed income and alternatives.

"The extent of those sentiments will be soon be revealed, as our annual conference also gives us the chance to take soundings from the fund manager community and we will be issuing those survey findings over the next few weeks."

Key topics discussed by Aon Hewitt consultants at the conference included:

On the Public Sector
Emily McGuire, head of Public Sector Investment Consulting at Aon Hewitt, said:
"Views among public sector schemes are changing. We are already hearing consideration of flight path approaches, an increased appetite to learn about Liability Driven Investment and a continuing trend towards diversification.

"We also expect to see more interest in infrastructure, hedge funds and diversified growth funds this year, as public sector schemes – like those of the private sector – seek greater value at a time when it can be elusive.
But it's not just investment and asset allocation issues that are at the forefront of their minds, governance reviews and the debate around merging LGPS Funds are also on their agenda."

On Delegated Investment
Ian Bailey, co-head of Delegated Consulting at Aon Hewitt said:
"Delegating investment decision-making has become a 'normal' activity for trustees.  Over the past year we have seen the mood change from 'why should I delegate', to 'who should I delegate to?'

"As a result, the UK delegated investment team at Aon Hewitt has seen strong growth with the majority of that coming externally, via competitive tenders – we now look after $8.2 billion.  Nor is delegation just for private sector defined benefit schemes – we are now seeing interest from other pools of institutional assets."

On Insurance-based assets
Zuhair Mohammed, head of Aon Insurance Asset Solutions & Corporate Investment Advisory Business, said:
"As awareness grows that the skill set of investment consultants can be transferred for use with insurance companies, we are seeing much more interest in helping with setting investment strategies and in risk management services as well as in selecting asset managers and providing execution services.

"As we go through 2013, I expect that awareness to develop into a real trend, with increased outsourcing of asset management, wider bond mandates and increased use of alternative asset classes.  I also expect that we will see increased demand from fund managers to help them to offer services to the insurance sector as they no will no longer have to build in-house insurance expertise."

Media contact: 

Colin Mayes                                 Adam Leviton
 Aon Hewitt                                   Capital MSL
 01372 733689                              020 7307 5339
colin.mayes@aonhewitt.com         adam.leviton@capitalmsl.com

About Aon Hewitt

Aon Hewitt empowers organisations and individuals to secure a better future through innovative talent, retirement and health solutions. We advise, design and execute a wide range of solutions that enable clients to cultivate talent to drive organisational and personal performance and growth, navigate  risk while providing new levels of financial security, and redefine health solutions for greater choice, affordability and wellness.  Aon Hewitt is the global leader in human resource solutions, with over 30,000 professionals in 90 countries serving more than 20,000 clients worldwide.  For more information on Aon Hewitt, please visit www.aonhewitt.com.

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About Aon
Aon plc (NYSE: AON) is the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. Through its more than 61,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via innovative and effective risk and people solutions and through industry-leading global resources and technical expertise. Aon has been named repeatedly as the world's best broker, best insurance intermediary, reinsurance intermediary, captives manager and best employee benefits consulting firm by multiple industry sources. Visit www.aon.com for more information on Aon and www.aon.com/manchesterunited to learn about Aon's global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.