Riley: "I'd Take RI General Treasurer's 155 Money Managers Down to Five"
Riley: "I'd Take RI General Treasurer's 155 Money Managers Down to Five"
"This is a very difficult thing being Treasurer — but I happen to be very educated about the issue," said Riley. "I came from the floors of the stock exchange, first in Chicago, then the American Stock Exchange. I’m a specialist in options trading and making markets. I had an excellent career. You either made money or you didn’t. You sink or swim."
Riley spoke to how he would take a different approach than current Treasurer Seth Magaziner and his predecessor -- Governor Gina Raimondo.
"The idea is they make it complex. They have lots and lots of assets that are non-correlated or partially correlated and that’s how they believe they are diversifying their portfolio and making it safer," said Riley. "I believe I can run Rhode Island's pension fund — in fact I know I can -- with less than five managers and fees of roughly $35 million a year."
"Raimondo and Magaziner believe in this other idea where they have 155 outside managers that they hire and pay to manage Rhode Island's money — they pay Wall Street to provide 'excellent' performance and some level of safety. The problem is, they haven’t produced the returns," said Riley. "We don't need Rhode Island and its treasurer office being a political office."
"They spent $450M of your money to Wall Street -- just to manage funds," said Riley of Raimondo and Magaziner's tenures. "My shield fees would be 70% lower, none of which would go to Wall Street. I'd take 155 managers down to 5."