PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — More than 350 Illinois police officer pension funds are now all in one place.
The Illinois Police Officers’ Pension Investment Fund on Thursday hosted an open house of their new 6,000 square foot digs in the Twin Towers building in downtown Peoria.
“It’s exciting to have an office, exciting to be in Peoria and be able to do what we’re doing on behalf of our neighbors,” said Richard White, executive director of the Illinois Police Officers’ Pension Investment Fund.
Established through legislation in 2019, the fund consolidated 357 downstate Illinois police pension funds into one trust fund pool. Nearly $10 billion in assets under management are invested on behalf of 25,000 active and retired police officers.
The legislation removed investment restrictions faced by local funds, said White.
“So we’re able to invest in global markets and asset classes that weren’t available to local funds, mainly due to their size. Our size gives us the scale to be able to have institutional investments from managers that can provide access to markets the local funds couldn’t get into,” he said.
White said the fund is also cost-effective.
“It also will save costs, reduce the feeds. A lot of the funds paid fees that perhaps were retail fees. We’re able to get institutional level fees and reduce the fees, which means more money will go into the pension fund,” he said.
The fund currently has six employees, but looking to add seven more employees in the next year.
