Regardless of whether you are managing different pension plans across multiple jurisdictions or simply committed to reviewing defined contribution (DC) or defined benefits (DB) pension schemes on a regular basis, we can help. We can advise on choosing the right plan, benchmark them in the context of your company structure, or can even manage them for you.
With offices in more than 70 cities around the world, our global reach allows us to build special skills, talents and insights about schemes based on our interactions with international and local companies. Combined with our huge database of global corporate pension schemes, this allows us to leverage vast depths of insight and data to help companies construct or design competitive schemes for their employees.
Mercer’s advice and solutions are driven by an integrated interdisciplinary team of specialists. Our experienced consultants and specialists in manager research, pension strategy, investment operations work together to provide you with the right level of advice and guidance as you need it; ensuring your plans are competitive, up to date, and invested in ways that align with your own environmental, sustainability and corporate governance (ESG) goals.
At Mercer we advise clients around the world on the pension schemes they are offering their employees and the investments they are making in pension funds behind the scenes.
Here are some of the ways we can help with DB plans, DC plans and fund harmonization.
1. Defined Benefit Pension Plans
For defined benefit pension plans (DB), where an employer commits to guaranteeing a specific amount of pension paid out to an employee on their retirement based on factors including their salary and years of service, we provide asset liability modelling, manager selection and de-risking advice to ensure that employers are able to cover the defined benefit amount due to retired employees. We reduce the burden of managing a DB plan with the ultimate goal of remaining solvent, by help them looking at their asset/liability balance, managing their selected services and understanding or balance their investments in complex or sophisticated markets.
Mercer can help defined benefits plans manage persistent risks, such as market volatility, uncertain liabilities and pressure to reduce expenses and contributions.
2. Defined Contribution Plans
Where employees are having more of the responsibility of funding and investing their own pension pot, we can help both companies and their employees understand their pension investments and optimize their plans. Choosing the right provider really matters, both from a qualitative and a quantitative perspective. Our goal is to ensure that our clients can have a better retirement, thanks to our advice. We can provide option review, manager selection and monitoring services. We also have sessions directly with pension plan members – your employees – to help them make the most of savings vehicle you have prepare for them.
Mercer works closely with our clients to provide tools and services that may improve employee retirement incomes and optimise employer outcomes. Some examples of our market-leading, client-driven tools and services include the following, amongst many more:
3. Harmonization of Multiple Funds
During mergers and acquisitions a lot can change: including the way employees are rewarded financially. At this time, we can help companies plan, design, and manage pensions and investments but, more importantly, we can also provide an independent review of funds and harmonize them. In addition, our breadth of global experience allows us to investigate and review, among other topics, asset and liability valuations methods across countries, the calculation of return on investment and costs and fees: to harmonize and standardize information for companies who require this service.
Outsourcing benefits administration to Mercer can help relieve the headaches of running a benefits program.
Find out more about how Mercer’s innovative approach to benefits administration streamlines the process for you, while educating employees and empowering them to make better decisions.
Since 1980, the number of people over the age of 60 has more than doubled and is expected to double again by 2050, according to the United Nations world population aging report.
This Mercer report explains how employers can help their employees reconsider retirement and cultivate employees’ financial health instead.
How Companies Can Support the Health of an Aging Workforce: Download
Two thirds of adults expect to live past 80, but only 1 in 3 are confident that they will have enough money to afford to do so. It’s time to retire retirement!
Investigate why the traditional notions of retirement need to be re-examined in this infographic summarizing research with 7,000 people and 600 senior leaders in 12 countries.
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