Pension fund data and operating model modernization

Installing a modern data platform gives a fund more ownership, control, and visibility into their information. It allows them to transition from passive observers to active operators. They get unified support for public and private assets, out-of-the-box integration with new data sources, and advanced analytics to track performance across the entire portfolio. It satisfies their urgent need for automated, customizable data quality processes, from rule creation and exception management to flexible security data mastering. A modern data framework mitigates funds’ private-public asset convergence problem of different datasets, data in disparate systems, varying investment horizons and lock-up periods. This not only enables firms to measure performance across liquid and illiquid assets, but it also allows funds to create blended fund structures and strategies.

Look-through portfolio analysis capabilities

Armed with a golden source of securities and reference data, managers can achieve the all-important look-through capabilities for the ultimate level of visibility and transparency: to grab deeper insights into an investment vehicle, a fund or a master structure, and to drill through to the individual underlying assets, securities, or company financials within — like the underlying assets within private equity fund structures or exposures in complex derivatives. With clear look-through into their alternative and private investments, funds can optimize target asset allocation weighting.

The centralized golden source of data enables them to obtain fund-level performance reporting to see the total fund value and sort by DB-specific portion and DC-specific portion, simultaneously. It enables harmonized corporate action lifecycle handling across all asset types and custom valuation methods for complex instruments.

In sum, funds are finally able to get their books in order like never before, standardizing and aggregating data for multiple books of record integration. Moreover, they can verify the numbers provided by fund administrators by running a shadow book. Keeping this accurate parallel book of record helps them become more responsive and transparent by preserving audit-ready financials. The fund can independently track margins and collaterals to optimize leverage, reduce financing costs, and improve capital deployment.

Pension fund insourcing in a diversified, multi‑asset world

Pension fund technology transformation replaces spreadsheets and fragmented systems with scalable platforms that support multi‑asset analytics, look‑through on external managers, alternative strategies, private markets, performance and risk attribution, and automated reporting across DB and DC structures. In 2026, pension fund insourcing will emerge as a notable trend to help deploy capital efficiently without materially expanding manager rosters.

Just under half (46%) of institutional asset owner organizations currently outsource and^vii Northern Trust found in its 2025 survey that operational complexity is the biggest single reason an asset owner chooses not to insource.^viii Operating model modernization can alleviate this issue, bringing more asset management in house to maintain ownership of taxonomy and data mapping, and seize control over costs, risk, and strategy execution.