While the technology around them provides up-to-the-second data, most trustees of large pension plans rely on a 200-page report that’s released in print eight weeks after the conclusion of the most recent fiscal period. With millions, sometimes billions at stake, a little more transparency might be warranted. That’s what InvestorForce, among others, believes is long overdue in the money management sector.
“In some ways this volatility in the market has woken everybody up,” says Morrissey. “I think we’re changing the industry and the way the industry operates,” says InvestorForce President/CEO Jim Morrissey, whose 10 year-old company has about 35 employees at its Wayne office.
The company’s Insight platform allows plan consultants to provide institutional clients with daily access to critical portfolio data through a consultant’s branded online portal.
“If you look at all the volatility in the market today, to be able to understand your exposures, where your risks are, and understand more about your investment portfolio, that will lead to better decision making,” says Morrissey.
InvestorForce has doubled the assets managed through its platform in the past year to $3.5 trillion. It is marketing Insight to pension, benefit and endowment consultants to large plans who are providing advice, selecting money managers and monitoring performance. InvestorForce recently signed Philadelphia-based VTL Associates, a consultant to some of the largest pension plans in the state.
The Insight platform, in development for five years, provides a GPS system, so to speak, for consultants. Insight cuts data to show a “dashboard” of exposures, risks, compliance, and asset allocation, for example.
“We’re all accustomed to it in our personal lives, going online for information, and I think the same should exist if you’re responsible for managing millions in assets,” says Morrissey.
Source: Jim Morrissey, Investor Force
Writer: Joe Petrucci