British Columbia Investment Management Corporation: An Investment Management Leader

Credit: BCI is led by a world-class team of executives and senior leaders that set the overall direction of the corporation, in alignment with clients’ investment needs and expectations. | British Columbia Investment Management Corporation

BCI’s global investment strategy has positively affected more than 715,000 pension plan beneficiaries, 2.5M workers in B.C., more than 3M Autoplan members and a range of special purpose funds supporting government-funded programs across the province.

Millions of British Columbians pay into or receive benefits from a public sector pension plan or insurance plan, or are community-based beneficiaries of government-funded programs receiving investment management services from British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI). Yet, few are aware of the extent BCI’s impressive investment performance helps to secure our financial futures.

“BCI operates under an asset management model that combines BCI’s sophisticated strategies with a team of skilled investment professionals to capture and capitalize on global markets and maximize returns in a complex investment environment,” says Shauna Lukaitis, chief operating officer.

BCI was ranked 10th in Infrastructure Investor’s 2021 Global Investor 50—a list of the largest institutional investors in global infrastructure—and earned the top spot in the Responsible Asset Allocator Initiative’s 2021 Leaders List of the 30 Most Responsible Asset Allocators.

Led by UBC graduate and Victoria native CEO/CIO Gordon J. Fyfe, BCI underwent a transition to its operating model several years ago and has continued to deliver above-benchmark industry performance, despite the ways COVID-19 and the current geopolitical landscape have contributed to inflation and a slowing economy. The transition to an active, in-house, global asset manager has underpinned this success.

Lukaitis maintains there are two factors driving BCI’s achievements through its recent corporate annual reporting period: prioritizing clients’ long-term objectives by evolving BCI’s service offering to ensure they are met and a focus on talent retention and recruitment.

“This is realized through BCI’s set of Strategic Ambitions, which forms the basis of the Three-year Business Plan F2023-2025, designed to strengthen BCI’s position as a world-class asset manager,” she says.

One strategic ambition includes Leveraging Digital Technology across all business functions as the pace of change and disruption accelerates across markets and industries. BCI has welcomed experienced technology talent, advanced BCI’s data and analytics capabilities, and moved to a cloud-based office suite to optimize workflow.

BCI’s 2021-2022 Corporate Annual Report illustrates a range of achievements, including a 7.4% annual return on behalf of B.C.’s public sector pension plans. The corporation also added $11.5 billion in net assets under management (AUM), increasing its total AUM to $211.1 billion. BCI’s specialized investment expertise has also realized additional value of $13.2 billion over a 10-year period with an annualized return of 9.1% against a combined market benchmark of 8.0%.

BCI is headquartered in Victoria and has an office in Vancouver. This summer, it opened a third and its first global office in New York City. A fourth office is planned to open in London, UK, early next year.

Learn more | bci.ca | corporateannualreport.bci.ca

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