N.C. Investment Authority Approves Strategic Asset Allocation, Staff Compensation Plan

This week, the North Carolina Investment Authority (NCIA) Board of Directed vote to change how the North Carolina Retirement Systems’ (NCRS) makes investment decisions.  

“These were the final steps in the construction of North Carolina’s newest state agency, the North Carolina Investment Authority,” State Treasurer Brad Briner said. “We now have approved the Investment Policy Statement and the incentive compensation plan.” 

Briner continued, “NCIA’s sole purpose is to deliver superior, risk-adjusted investment returns on the over $200 billion of taxpayer, employee and retiree assets we manage on behalf of all North Carolinians. These two important actions will allow the team to do just that. If the team increases historical returns by just 1% a year, the state will soon be able to increase retiree payouts through COLAs while at the same time reducing the annual pension contribution cost to the state budget.” 

The Board approved a new strategic asset allocation, which is a long-term plan that sets a mix of investment asset classes and risk controls. The update adds flexibility and includes new performance benchmarks. The Board also updated other components of NCRS Investment Policy Statement, which explains investment guidelines and required processes. Additionally the board voted to establish a long-term strategy for investing assets of the Ancillary governmental Participants Investment Program (AGPIP).  

A report presented at the meeting showed that NCIA had $208.23 billion of assets under management as of Dec. 31, 2025, which included $141.5 billion in the state pension plan. Ortec Finance, a risk management consultant, presented findings of its stress tests of the new strategic allocation plan showed healthy growth headed toward full funding. he study found the pension fund is “very strong” and should perform similar to or better than a peer group average portfolio, with manageable future risks.