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.