New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. on Tuesday urged officials of the $77 billion New York City pension funds to “promptly adopt” the code of conduct for investment managers that New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo proposed last week, confirmed Laura Rivera, Mr. Thompson’s spokeswoman.
Mr. Thompson is a board member of four of the five city pension funds, and is adviser and custodian for all five plans.
The code of conduct bans investment firms from using placement agents, lobbyists or other third-party marketers from marketing investments to public pension funds, and restricts campaign contributions by investment management firms, their employees and family members.
Mr. Cuomo’s code of conduct embraces the spirit of the reforms already in place at the New York State Common Retirement Fund, said Robert Whalen, spokesman for the $122 billion Albany-based fund, in an interview this afternoon. Mr. Whalen added that New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, the New York State Common fund’s sole trustee, has asked the state insurance department, which audits the New York state fund, to adopt his reforms, binding future state comptrollers to the reforms.
Carlyle Group, which last week agreed to pay the state $20 million to settle an ongoing investigation by Mr. Cuomo, was the first investment management firm to agree to the code of conduct. Mr. Cuomo urged federal and state governments to adopt the code of conduct as a regulation or law.
