Investing September 22, 2011

Morningstar Expands ETF Resources

September 22, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) -   Morningstar, Inc. announced plans to launch rankings and research on exchange-traded fund (ETF) managed portfolios later this year.
 
Reported by

ETF managed portfolios are primarily separate account strategies that have more than 50% of a portfolio’s assets in ETFs, according to Morningstar. Of the more than 330 ETF managed portfolios with about $22 billion in assets currently tracked by Morningstar, approximately 30% were launched within the past three years and the number continues to increase.

“ETF managed portfolios are a burgeoning area. By expanding the research available for ETF managed portfolios, we aim to increase the awareness and transparency of this rapidly growing area of the industry,” said Andrew Gogerty, ETF managed portfolios strategist for Morningstar. “These strategies typically offer greater tactical flexibility than a traditional individual security separate account strategy, but no other firm is providing commentary, research, and education for advisers in this area. Our goal is to develop a suite of analytics and commentary that will help advisors and other investors who are sifting through these investment options.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan benefits news.

Morningstar is also creating a proprietary classification system for ETF managed portfolios, which advisers can use to screen offerings based on the portfolio’s strategy attributes to make meaningful comparisons. More information about the classification system is available at http://global.morningstar.com/ETFManagedPortfoliosClassification. More information about our rankings and research for ETF managed portfolios is available at http://global.morningstar.com/ETFManagedPortfoliosFactSheet.

Morningstar will rank ETF managed portfolios by performance against their peers within their classification grouping. The classifications for ETF managed portfolios differ from the Morningstar Category Classifications, which are applied to mutual funds, variable annuities, and separate accounts based on the underlying securities in each portfolio.

Morningstar plans to make the ETF managed portfolios rankings and research available through its adviser and institutional products, including Morningstar Advisor Workstation, Morningstar Office, and Morningstar Direct.  Selected content from the ETF managed portfolios database will also be available on Morningstar.com in early 2012.

Products September 22, 2011

Northern Trust Assists Clients in Management of Private Market Assets

 

September 22, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Northern Trust announced its expanded suite of reporting for custody clients to offer comprehensive views of investment information on private market assets held in a range of commingled and unitized fund structures. 

 
Reported by

Northern Trust’s Alternative Funds (AF)-Fund Valuation Status Summary integrates data including cash flows and valuation information to assist clients in their management and due diligence of these specialized assets.


The Alternative Funds (AF)-Fund Valuation Status Summary, available via Northern Trust’s multifaceted online portal, Passport, complements Northern Trust’s comprehensive reporting on partnership investments in private equity, real estate, and other alternative assets. The new summary report combines alternative asset holdings information from Northern Trust’s portfolio valuation records with data sourced from fund company statements to deliver consolidated pricing, market value, valuation, and statement tracking information for clients invested in alternative funds.

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANSPONSOR NEWSDash daily newsletter.

The Fund Valuation Status Summary presents information from a variety of fund types, including commingled funds, unitized hedge funds, money market funds, Canadian pooled funds, unitized real estate funds, and other alternative unitized funds.

The new report eliminates the need for investors in alternative assets to locate, gather, and normalize data from various fund sponsors. The summary also allows clients to quickly identify funds that have market values based on lagged, estimated or final values or which represent material holdings that warrant additional scrutiny. Clients can view audited data for a particular month-end and daily data using the best information available from fund company statements.

«