The Marshall Islands has dropped Wall Street giant ,Goldman Sachs, from managing a 113 million US dollar trust fund, saying the move will save the government $500,000 in fees annually.
The trust fund was established in 2004 as part of the U.S. government's exit strategy from providing long-term aid to the Marshall Islands, a former colony that the U.S. wrested from Japan at the end of World War II.
The switch comes amid reports warning the Marshall Islands that unless more is invested annually and higher rates of return are earned, the fund will fall far short of meeting the nation's s needs when United States grant funding ends after 2023.
A joint United States and Marshall Islands trust fund committee voted to terminate a four-year relationship with Goldman Sachs as its fund adviser and also dropped First Hawaiian Bank as its fund trustee after six years.
In addition to hiring U.S. investment firm Mercer to manage its trust fund, it hired U.S. bank State Street Bank and Trust Company to be the fund¹s trustee.
Marshall Islands Chief Secretary Casten Nemra says the move is being made to address the unanticipated difficulties experienced between our previous investment adviser and trustee which often resulted in delays of execution.
