South Carolina Retirement Systems, Columbia, hired Deutsche Bank as its first third-party securities lending agent.
The South Carolina Retirement System Investment Commission, which directs investments for the $29.9 billion pension fund, approved the recommendation of W. Greg Ryberg, chief operating officer, according to a webcast of the RSIC meeting on Thursday.
The system's custodian, BNY Mellon, previously handled all securities lending activities.
Investment commissioners also approved separating the contracts of two strategies managed by PENN Capital Management. In March, the RSIC rehired PENN to manage $100 million in its Opportunistic High-Yield strategy under a five-year contract.
At its latest meeting, the commission agreed to create a separate contract for PENN's management of $247 million in its Short Duration High Yield approach and to extend that contract for an additional 2.5 years to match that of the opportunistic strategy.
Separately, as part of a discussion about governance changes at the RSIC, commissioners agreed to postpone a vote on the creation of an executive director position until the board's June 16–17 meeting.
“It's not practical to expect that a part-time commissioner can head this organization” effectively, Mr. Ryberg said. “This change is inevitable,” he added.
Hershel Harper, the chief investment officer, said on the webcast that he was in favor of adding an executive director, but cautioned it is “critical to carefully define the roles” of the executive director and the CIO.
“This organization will change under a new director. This (will be) a defining moment for the commission,” Mr. Harper added.
Commissioners were broadly in favor of adding executive-level oversight of the commission, but said they needed more time to consider the motion.
State Treasurer Curtis M. Loftis complimented the commission's ad hoc planning committee's work in defining the role of the executive director.
“Y'all have done very good work,” he told fellow commissioner, Rebecca Gunnlaugsson, who chaired the planning committee, and predicted “we probably all will vote for this in June.”
