Behaving Like an Owner: Plugging Investment Chain Leakages

11 Pages Posted: 30 Sep 2013

See all articles by Jane Ambachtsheer

Jane Ambachtsheer

BNP Paribas - BNP Paribas Asset Management; University of Oxford - Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Students

Richard Fuller

Mercer Investments

Divyesh Hindocha

Mercer Investments

Date Written: September 24, 2013

Abstract

The theme of investing for the long term through engaged ownership is gaining profile. This article explores the implications of “behaving like an owner” and estimates its financial benefits. We follow the journey of $100 over 20 years under four different “leakage” scenarios. Downstream leakages are active management fees, manager transition costs, and excessive trading; upstream leakages are unwarranted M&A activity and misaligned incentive structures. We find that fixing these leakages can increase the size of savings pots by as much as 25% over a 20-year accumulation period. We also address the behavioral question, “If this is so self-evident, then why do presumably rational investors keep doing these irrational things?” We close with some thoughts on the behavioral changes needed to get institutional investors behaving as owners.

Keywords: Institutional Investors, Investment Costs, Investment Process, Long-Term Investing, Pension Funds, Short-Termism

Suggested Citation

Ambachtsheer, Jane and Fuller, Richard and Hindocha, Divyesh, Behaving Like an Owner: Plugging Investment Chain Leakages (September 24, 2013). Rotman International Journal of Pension Management, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2330354 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2330354

Jane Ambachtsheer (Contact Author)

BNP Paribas - BNP Paribas Asset Management ( email )

Paris
France

University of Oxford - Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Students ( email )

United Kingdom

Richard Fuller

Mercer Investments ( email )

Divyesh Hindocha

Mercer Investments ( email )

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