Strategic Asset Alliance is NOT an investment management firm and does not manage portfolios directly (i.e. buying/selling securities).

As investment consultants, we advise insurers, risk pools, JPAs, captives, etc. on how they can improve their investment process. Our role can often be viewed as a cost-effective, outsourced ‘Chief Investment Officer’ or ‘VP – Investments’ that oversees the organization’s entire investment program, including its investment managers, portfolio performance, governance, etc.

An insurance company or governmental risk pool may utilize an investment consultant to provide third-party oversight over their investment manager. For example, SAA monitors the value added or subtracted by our clients’ investment manager, as well as their compliance to our clients’ goals and objectives.

It is common for insurers to have investment expertise on staff (i.e. ‘Chief Investment Officer’ or ‘VP of Investments’) that are responsible for monitoring the organization’s investment manager. However, in many instances, an organization may prefer to outsource these responsibilities to an independent third-party.

The SAA Philosophy: Implement a consistent, proven investment process that adds value and is documented for senior management and Board/Trustee members.

As an investment consulting, SAA’s services focus on the overall investment process, which includes:

• • Strategic Asset Allocation Analysis:  Learn More >>

    SAA reviews the impact of different allocations and models various asset class combinations that are tied to the overall insurance business.

  • Investment Policy Review:  Learn More >>

    SAA ensures the policy encompasses ‘best practices’ and provides protection from problems often experienced by other insurers and pools.

  • Investment Manager Selection & Evaluation:  Learn More >>

    SAA will assess the current manager(s) fit, quantitatively and qualitatively. As needed, SAA helps clients search for a suitable replacement to carry out the desired strategy and objectives.

  • Portfolio Monitoring:  Learn More >>

    SAA looks beyond performance and reviews compliance, OTTI impairment, stress tests, etc.

  • Performance Measurement:  Learn More >>

    SAA goes beyond simple comparisons to the benchmark; We review yield and total return performance on a risk-adjusted basis and against larger databases of manager performance. For most insurers, this process includes developing and utilizing a custom benchmark.

  • Peer Group Analysis:  Learn More >>

    SAA will compare the financial results and investment portfolio composition in comparison with selected peer insurance companies.

  • Board and Committee Education:  Learn More >>

    SAA will conduct educational sessions reviewing new asset classes, basic concepts, etc. SAA can also conduct case study sessions that review scenarios based on our firm’s experiences.

Typically, the use of an investment consulting firm is most suitable for insurers and risk pools/JPAs between $25 million – $2 billion in assets under management. Other factors include staffing resources and service needs. An investment consultant can be cost-effective as fees are often a fraction of the cost of a full-time investment executive. Consultants can also be retained on an annual or one-time basis, depending on the scope of services needed.

SAA believes every insurance company and risk pool is unique; with each portfolio requiring a different structure and solution that is best suited to support the organization’s underlying business.

SAA strives to find the most appropriate service solution that is based on your line of business, asset size, liquidity needs, business objectives, etc. This can range from providing our full suite of investment consulting services on a quarterly-basis to providing assistance as part of a one-time project.

For insurers or risk pools that may not require drastic changes to their investment program, we would focus our guidance on affirming the strengths of the investment process, while providing recommendation for potential improvement. This is typically done in the form of a S.W.O.T. Analysis, which you can learn more about here.

All of SAA’s investment consulting clients are insurance companies, captives, and insurance-oriented public entities. We do not accept investment consulting assignments from any other type of entity.

Additionally, SAA is a truly independent firm that only derives revenue from its client fees, with our consultants having decades of collective investment experience in the insurance and risk pooling space.