Innovating to meet the needs of our clients in 2022

2022 has of course been a challenging 12 months for many. At Mobius we’ve worked hard to deliver another year of high-quality investment administration and we’ve continued to innovate to respond to the emerging needs of our clients. Highlights of the year include:

Preparing schemes for buyout with targeted basket of gilts holdings: We developed our capabilities to buy and hold a bespoke basket of direct gilts to support schemes moving to buyout with insurers. We have the ability to leverage our broker/dealer and custodian relationships to buy and hold direct gilts on the platform within our life company structure as part of a scheme’s transition to an insurer. We believe Mobius is the only institutional platform to offer a direct gilt purchase solution of this type.

Providing greater control to investment managers for private market and private equity transactions: Asset allocation exposures may benefit by exerting greater control over the timing and price limits of trading certain illiquid investments. We recognised the benefit this brings to solutions which Scheme CIOs or fund managers create, by allowing direct access to our broker/dealers. This gives them greater control, while providing comfort that all transactions and administration are processed and recorded on the Mobius platform.

Breaking down barriers to make real assets available to DB schemes: Many DB schemes seek returns from illiquid real assets such as sustainable assets, social housing, low carbon assets, healthcare, education and digital infrastructure. Yet for many smaller investors these are difficult to access due to the high levels of governance required and complex fund structures. We have innovated by using the power of the Mobius platform to make real asset strategies available to DB schemes.

Enabling schemes to exercise their proxy voting power: The government has made it clear schemes will be expected to use their voting power to support their climate change investment strategies. We worked with schemes to design solutions which enable them to vote on the shares they own. This pioneering approach is the start of enabling direct influence and is only possible due to Mobius’ investment administration capabilities.

Developing solutions for DC schemes: We have developed a solution offering a selection of manufactured funds designed to provide schemes with access to a wide range of sophisticated investment strategies which may not normally be available to them. We anticipate that the first clients will be able to utilise these strategies soon.

….and of course, there’s LDI: Like all parties involved, Mobius had to respond to the unprecedented spike in collateral calls following the mini-budget and subsequent turbulence in the gilt markets. The UK pensions industry has never experienced such a surge in the volume of trading activity coupled with accelerated and compressed timeframes. Mobius adapted to help deal with these unique circumstances, underlining the ability of our platform to flex to meet our clients’ needs.

Industry recognition: Finally, we were delighted to be recognised again with yet another pensions award. Mobius won the Institutional Investment Platform of the Year Award at the UK Professional Pensions Awards 2022. This is the fourth year in succession Mobius Life has won the award.

We couldn’t have won the award without the support of our clients and their advisers, who continue to trust us to deliver the highest standards of investment administration, so a massive thank you to all! We will continue to work hard to meet your needs in 2023 and to innovate to respond to changes and emerging demands in the pensions industry.

Wishing all of you all the best for the festive season and the New Year

See you in 2023 !