OPTrust reaches in-house trading floor milestone

The OPSEU Pension Trust has completed the 1,000th trade from its in-house trading floor, which was launched in June.

The decision to manage a large portion of public market assets in-house was part of the fund’s implementation of its member-driven investment strategy, notes a press release. “The reporting and reconciliation aspects of in-house trading are working smoothly, as expected,” said Hugh O’Reilly, president and chief executive officer of OPTrust.

Read: OPTrust boosts internal management through new in-house trading floor

“This trading activity represents our efforts to increase our understanding of, and response times to, volatile markets as we pay our members pensions.”

Over time, the trading floor is expected to bring in around 40 to 50 percent of the plan’s public market assets. OPTrust already manages a significant number of assets in-house, including those in real estate, private equity and infrastructure. Its ultimate goal is to do so for 70 to 80 per cent of its assets, O’Reilly told Benefits Canada in June.

Read: OPTrust return slides to 6% in 2016