Liability-driven investing strategy

The quantitative management team works closely with clients of all sizes to create customized liability-driven-investing (LDI) strategies that will best meet their desired objectives. With extensive actuarial, investment, and risk management experience, the team specializes in structuring investment solutions to help hedge liabilities for pension plans, health and welfare plans, life insurance companies, and endowments/foundations.

Philosophy

The team specializes in LDI and other customized solutions, and has been managing assets within an objectives-driven framework for decades. The team’s focus on structured fixed-income solutions ensures that clients receive market-leading research and solutions that best meet their needs. The team believes in going beyond restating client goals, objectives, and restrictions, instead digging deep into actuarial and financial issues related to pension fund management, which provides a more complete analysis, enabling a thorough vetting of potential solutions. Maintaining a collaborative relationship throughout the life of a plan means the team will be able to suggest enhancements and make adjustments to meet the changing needs of the plan over time. 

Managed by

Serge Lapierre, FCIA, FSA

Head of Liability-Driven Investments, Financial Engineering, and Quantitative Research, Sr. Portfolio Manager, Multi-Asset Solutions Team, Manulife Investment Management

Serge and his team are responsible for all quantitative and systematic investment strategies that require a quantitative approach, such as liability-driven investments, smart beta (including exchange-traded funds), and for developing unique quantitative models, products, tools, and solutions. He joined the firm when Standard Life's Canadian operations were acquired by Manulife in January 2015; prior to that, he held a similar role with the quantitative management team. Before Standard Life, Serge was a senior investment consultant for Aon Consulting and an actuarial analyst for Metropolitan Life Insurance of Canada. He was also a lecturer in actuarial mathematics and quantitative finance at the Université de Montréal and at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Serge is a Fellow of both the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries.

  • Education: B.Sc. in Mathematics, with a major in actuarial science, Université de Montréal
  • Joined the company: 2015
  • Began career: 1994
Serge Lapierre, FCIA, FSA

Vehicles

At Manulife Investment Management, we offer investment strategies through a variety of vehicles to suit a broad range of client needs. Contact our institutional sales or consultant relations team to find out if this strategy/vehicle is offered in your region. 

Separate accounts

Our separate accounts and separately managed accounts (SMAs) are designed for institutions and high-net-worth clients seeking tailored investment solutions and direct ownership of securities. 

CITs

Our professionally managed collective investment trusts (CITs) are available in certain qualified retirement plans.

Mutual funds

Mutual funds are liquid, professionally managed portfolios that are available to both institutional and retail investors.


Key facts

Managing multi-asset solutions

Since 1994

LDI team

Established 1998

LDI strategy assets under management (CAD)

$22.16 billion

Style

Customized solutions

Important disclosures

All information shown is as of December 31, 2023, unless otherwise indicated. Strategy-level information may differ from vehicle-specific information. Not all vehicles are available in all locations and may be offered through affiliates of Manulife Investment Management.

The team joined the firm when Standard Life's Canadian operations were acquired by Manulife in January 2015.


Related

Inflation’s impact on retirement portfolios: quantifying the future cost today

Small increases in inflation can have outsized consequences for retirees’ portfolios. How do you plan for retirement in a new inflation reality? We quantify how much rising prices can impact investors’ retirement plans, and the changes that can be made to increase the odds of reaching their goals.
Read more

Foresight November 2021: macro themes and market outlook

Optimism about the reopening has faded as supply chain disruptions, inflation, and changes in the labor market weigh on sentiment. We examine how returns expectations across asset classes have changed in recent months.
Read more

Building better retirement plans with liability-driven investing

To help demonstrate the potential benefits of a multicomponent LDI approach to retirement plan management, we commissioned Bayes Business School to construct a model based on the latest academic research. The results of the model form the basis of this paper.
Read more