Partner Guillaume Buell spoke with DG Publishing at the 2026 LGPS Pooling Symposium about the evolving role of fiduciary responsibility for pension funds.

Emphasizing that a pension fund fiduciary’s foremost obligation is to protect retirees and safeguard long-term retirement security, Guillaume discussed how fiduciary duties have expanded alongside the emergence of new asset classes and increasing pressure on pension funds to use their investments to advance corporate accountability and drive positive change.

Guillaume also addressed the growing trend of pension funds investing through commingled funds and the corresponding loss of direct governance rights. He explained that when pension funds invest directly in companies, they are able to exercise oversight and influence through engagement with management and boards, divestment to express strong opposition, and shareholder litigation—a well-established mechanism in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other jurisdictions around the world for improving corporate governance and protecting shareholder interests. By contrast, Guillaume noted that when assets are invested through commingled funds, many of those governance tools are diminished because investors do not directly own the underlying securities and therefore have limited ability to influence corporate decision-making.