A life insurance company required a lead manager for its core investments and a system to oversee multiple portfolios of its specialty managers. Standish developed a unique investment infrastructure for managing this complex mandate. The comprehensive solution included asset/liability analysis; management of core and credit portfolios; performance attribution and reporting for multiple managers; structuring of asset and liability duration targets and post-trade compliance.

A highly leveraged manufacturer facing lean profit years asked for a total pension strategy that would protect current funding and reduce financial risk. Standish created a customized active bond strategy whose target duration was geared to the firm's financial, operating, and HR environment. We used a moderate amount of commingled equity funds from an affiliate to meet risk/return targets, periodically adjusting asset allocation and bond portfolio duration together to control overall plan interest rate sensitivity.

A high tech firm with a fluctuating tax rate needed to increase its after-tax return on corporate cash flow. Standish structured a short duration, high quality portfolio to maximize the client’s after-tax position. We looked to the 12-24 month sector of the taxable yield curve, where the taxable/tax exempt spread was most advantageous, to augment tax exempt holdings that include general obligation, essential service revenue, insured and pre-refunded bonds.

A corporate client came to Standish with two separate stable value funds as a result of an earlier merger. The client required an approach that would merge the two funds without disadvantaging participants in either one. After careful investment planning we created one fund with similar yield, duration and credit quality, and boosted participation by 66% to $750 million.

A tax-sensitive, high-net-worth individual had just transitioned out of a risky asset class and needed a short term strategy that would preserve capital and maximize after-tax total return. The client was averse to credit risk and concerned about a rising interest rate environment. Standish structured a tax exempt one-year duration portfolio, concentrating of single-A credits, using taxable securities opportunistically.