Your Portfolio has a Purpose

When Your Portfolio Outgrows the Advisory Model

Most boards began their investment journey with a relatively simple portfolio and a straightforward advisory arrangement. Over time, the portfolio has grown more complex: multiple managers, alternative investments, impact mandates, climate commitments, multi-currency exposures. The governance question is whether the support around the portfolio has evolved at the same pace.

For many boards, it hasn't. The advisory model that worked well for a single balanced fund may not serve a portfolio with five managers across six asset classes. The quarterly report that was adequate when the portfolio was straightforward may not give the board what it needs now that the decisions are more consequential.

This isn't a failure of attention. It's a natural consequence of how advisory relationships develop. They tend to stay as they started, even as the portfolio underneath them changes.

If your board has ever felt that its meetings don't quite get to the substance, or that the advice you receive doesn't fully match the complexity of what you're overseeing, that feeling is worth paying attention to. It usually means the governance model is ready to evolve.

The Spectrum of Support

Shaw OCIO works across the full spectrum. The right point depends on your board's governance capacity, the complexity of your portfolio, and how your organisation wants to allocate its time and expertise.

Advice Only

We provide independent advice on asset allocation, manager selection, governance frameworks, and investment policy. Enhanced reporting and monitoring as needed. We recommend; your board decides and implements.

This works well when your board has strong internal capability, a manageable portfolio complexity, and the capacity to act on recommendations in a timely way. Consulting gives you an experienced independent perspective without changing how your organisation operates day to day.

• The governance question to consider: when we make a recommendation, does your board have the time and expertise to implement it effectively? If important recommendations are being deferred because nobody has the capacity to act on them, the consulting model may have reached its limit.

Partial Delegation

Your board sets the strategic direction with our guidance. We implement the elements your board doesn't have the capacity or specialist expertise to handle. The scope of delegation is tailored to your organisation: it might include manager appointments and transitions, portfolio rebalancing, reporting coordination, or governance infrastructure. What gets delegated is determined by your needs, not by a rigid product definition.

This works well when your portfolio has grown more complex than your internal capacity can comfortably manage, but your board wants to remain actively involved in strategic decisions. Partial delegation keeps the board in the driver's seat while providing specialist support for the operational work that consumes committee time without adding strategic value.

• The governance question to consider: is your investment committee spending its time on strategic governance, or on operational oversight that could be handled by a specialist? If the committee regularly runs out of time before reaching the substantive agenda items, that's often a sign that some operational functions would benefit from delegation.

Full Delegation

We work closely with the board to establish a suitable risk appetite and investment objectives that align with your purpose. Shaw OCIO is accountable for everything else, with an acute focus on governance efficiency: portfolio construction, manager selection and monitoring, implementation, rebalancing, transition management, and comprehensive reporting. The board retains strong governance oversight, mission alignment, and the authority to set and adjust the framework. We remain accountable for ensuring the portfolio meets the objectives.

This works well when your portfolio's complexity requires full-time specialist management, and your board wants to focus its governance energy on strategic direction and mission alignment rather than on investment operations.

A practical benefit of full delegation is that the board can choose when to allocate dedicated time to the investment portfolio, rather than being required to find time in each board meeting to keep the portfolio on track. When quality, transparent reporting is provided each quarter and all board members understand that reporting, the board should be able to confirm that all is running smoothly by reading the report before the meeting. The investment portfolio becomes a standing agenda item that the board engages with on its own terms, not a recurring discussion that crowds out other governance priorities.

• The governance question to consider: effective governance under full delegation means the board sets clear objectives, receives transparent reporting, and satisfies itself that the delegated functions are being managed to the standard the organisation requires.

Moving along the Spectrum

One of the practical advantages of working with an OCIO across the full spectrum is that the model can evolve as your needs change. A board that starts with consulting only can move toward partial delegation as the portfolio grows more complex, or as the governance burden increases. The shift doesn't require changing provider, renegotiating from scratch, or rebuilding the advisory relationship.

This matters because governance needs aren't static. A community trust that is managing a straightforward portfolio today may, within a few years, be navigating alternatives, impact mandates, and multiple manager relationships. The advisory model should be able to move with the organisation, not force the board to start over when the old model no longer fits.

Going Deeper

If you're thinking about where your board sits on this spectrum, two of our research guides may be useful.

• A Trustee's Guide to Investment Governance

• Written for the people who actually sit around the investment committee table. It covers the five questions every trustee should be able to answer after an IC meeting, what a good quarterly report should tell you in plain language, and how to tell whether your governance model is keeping pace with your portfolio's complexity.

• What Your Adviser's Business Model Tells You About Their Advice

• Maps the six advisory models operating in New Zealand's institutional market, what each one incentivises, and what boards should expect in terms of fee transparency. It includes a practical framework for evaluating whether your current arrangement is still the right fit.

Both are available as public previews, with full versions available on request.