Investment Manager Review Process

When you invest with Great-West Life, you have some of the leading investment managers in the world managing your money. Great-West regularly monitors and reviews investment managers.

The disciplined review process allows Great-West to select and monitor its investment managers. A committee of investment and business experts conducts regular reviews and monitor investment managers against standards and established expectations.

Investment manager review committee

Our investment committee consists of senior members from Great-West’s Individual Retirement and Investment Services division, Group Retirement Services division and its investment management subsidiaries GWL Investment Management Ltd. and London Life Investment Management Ltd. Committee members have an extensive knowledge of the investment and pension industry and a wide variety of business and investment qualifications. The committee formally meets with each manager twice a year—once at the investment manager’s worksite and once at our office in London, Ontario.

Standards and expectations set for Great-West Life's investment managers

The investment committee analyzes factors including, but not limited to:

Qualitative factors

• Consistency of style and philosophy regarding the investment manager's money management processes
• Organizational structures of the investment managers, especially regarding significant changes in personnel or investment processes
• Duties, experience and tenure of personnel
• Investment manager's views on recent market conditions and any actions taken as a result of its assessment
• Current economic outlook and positioning of portfolios
• Compliance and control procedures
• Significant changes in assets gained or lost, especially losses on institutional accounts

Quantitative factors

• Fund performance on absolute and relative basis, compared to competitors, peer groups and benchmarks
• The consistency, reliability and repeatability of performance
• How the investment manager generated returns, which helps separate skilled managers from lucky managers
• Volatility of the investment manager's returns relative to a benchmark
• The fund's actual returns and its expected performance, given its level of risk
• How much risk an investment manager had to bear to earn the returns generated on a particular fund
• How each investment manager fits into the overall offering of Great-West's segregated fund family