June 2, 2010: Goldman Sachs has resigned from its fiduciary position of managing several billion dollars of investments for the Central States Pension Fund. The fund now plans to use just one money manager, Northern Trust Global Advisors, and also plans to shift more investments to passive management, or index accounts.

This information is contained in the fund’s quarterly Financial and Analytical Report (which is available only on TDU.org) and the Report of the Special Counsel to the Fund.

The Fund’s first quarter report indicates that assets rose in the first quarter of 2010 from $19.5 billion on December 31, 2009, to $19.8 billion on March 31, 2010. This was due to a run-up in the stock market. The fund, which has 69% of its money in stocks, made 4.6% on its overall investments for the quarter. The second quarter, which ends on June 30, has so far been a disaster for the stock market.

The fund had 54,580 active participants as of February 2010, down from 81,406 a year earlier. The big loss is primarily due to the temporary withdrawal of YRC from Teamster pension funds. The fund has 214,059 retirees; that number has held steady for a few years.

The fund reports give no indication of any plans to change benefits.

Click here to access the Financial and Analytic Report and here for the Special Counsel Report.