NYC comptroller: Money management fees wipe out billions in city pension gains

An analysis by the New York City's comptroller has concluded the city's pension funds over the past 10 years paid over $2 billion in fees to money managers but got almost nothing in return.

Comptroller Scott Stringer told The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/1Gs9Amm ) the fees not only wiped out any benefit to the funds but have cost taxpayers billions of dollars in lost returns.

He says the returns on investments in privately traded assets traditionally have been reported without taking fees into account. He says the fees were disclosed only in footnotes to the funds' quarterly statements.

The city's pensions system holds retirement funds for about 715,000 city employees.

Leaders of unions whose members have stakes in the funds told the Times they expected the analysis to lead to changes.

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Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com