NEWS

Ohio P&F slashes WAMCO

By Muskan Arora

The $18.9bn Ohio Police & Fire Pension Plan has fired the fixed income manager Western Asset Management Co. from a $180m short-term cash portfolio.

After being placed on ‘watch-list’ in September 2024, the pension plan decided to terminate, due to “organizational developments within the firm.”

Earlier in August 2024, Franklin Templeton, Western Asset Management’s parent firm, had disclosed that the SEC had issued a Wells notice to co-CIO Ken Leech.

Leech was at the epicenter of the investigation focusing on “past trade allocations involving Treasury derivates.” Since then, Leech has resigned and been accused of securities fraud.

Spokesperson David Graham confirmed that the assets from termination will be reallocated to existing managers. The pension plan had hired WAMCO to manage the portfolio in 2018.

The system’s allocation to fixed income is at 22.2% with a long-term target of 25%, as of Sept 30.


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