Janet Cowell thinks the treasurer should have more tools.
The treasurer-elect told Dome that she thinks financial planners taking care of the state's pension fund should have more options to invest in order to hedge against bad markets like this one.
Cowell was not ready to talk specifics about her proposal, but she said as an example that if the pension had invested heavily in German securities, it might look for another investment to hedge against the euro rising against the dollar.
"You could use that tool to control risk," she said. "Some people might be afraid that if you give (the treasurer's planners) that authority, they might use it to increase risk. So the question is can we give them tools so they can make good investment decisions, but put some contraints on them?"
She said any changes to investing strategy should be "appropriate, prudent and conservative."
Cowell said after her January swearing-in she'll talk more with legislators about expanding the statutory authority of the state treasurer's office, perhaps with a bill as early as next session.
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