Through Wilshire Compass Portal, private equity, private real estate and real asset investment management firms have a means to proactively reach out to Wilshire.
Santa Monica, CA (PRWEB) September 11, 2013
Wilshire Associates Incorporated (Wilshire®), a diversified global financial services firm, today announced that private equity, private real estate and real asset investment managers may now submit qualitative and quantitative performance information through Wilshire Compass PortalSM, the firm’s online investment manager questionnaire and data collection platform. Wilshire Compass Portal offers investment managers increased exposure and marketing power by making their key performance and relevant qualitative information available to users of Wilshire CompassSM. Accessed daily by Wilshire Consulting, the firm’s investment outsourcing and consulting practice, and Wilshire’s manager research group, Wilshire Compass is at the foundation of much of the recommendations formulated at Wilshire Associates.
“Last year we launched Wilshire Compass Portal to streamline the process for traditional asset managers to submit asset class and style specific online questionnaires which are designed to allow consultants and plan sponsors to gain greater insight into their strategies, organization and personnel,” said Julia Bonafede, president, Wilshire Consulting. “The unique investment processes of private equity, private real estate and real assets necessitated adding questionnaires developed specifically for each of these fund types. While Wilshire has always researched alternative asset investment strategies on behalf of its institutional clients, this is an additional step to broaden our coverage,” she added.
“Prior to these enhancements, electronic due diligence questionnaires were sent periodically to investment managers in these categories. Now, private equity, private real estate and real asset investment management firms will be able to provide updates on product offerings, performance, and other firm/product details on a regular and more timely manner,” stated Charles Stunkard, managing director, Wilshire Associates. “Through Wilshire Compass Portal, private equity, private real estate and real asset investment management firms have a means to proactively reach out to Wilshire and ensure their information is accurate and up-to-date in the Wilshire Investment Database,” he noted.
Even more important, the information available on Wilshire Compass is accessed by many plan sponsors and institutional investors around the world as they seek to identify and invest with managers meeting their specific investment criteria. In fact, numerous fund sponsors, who are Wilshire clients, request that managers are registered and up-to-date in the Wilshire Investment Database as the first step in their due diligence process. Users of Wilshire Compass currently account for in excess of $1.5 Trillion in institutional assets (as of 12/01/2012).
The Wilshire Investment Database provides information on more than 35,000 investment products. To track institutional money managers, Wilshire employs both experienced manager research professionals and state-of-the-art technology including, Wilshire Compass Portal.
About Wilshire Compass
Wilshire Compass is an institutional investment database coupled with a sophisticated suite of analytic and reporting tools for asset allocation modeling, risk analysis, manager evaluation and total fund analysis. Developed for fund sponsors and other institutional investors, Wilshire Compass addresses all aspects of a logical and disciplined investment approach including: defining and following an investment policy, developing an asset allocation and rebalancing strategy, identifying skilled managers and conducting total fund analysis and monitoring.
At its foundation, the Wilshire Investment Database consists of over:
- 9,000 separate account products
- 26,000 mutual fund products, including over 1,600 ETFs (Lipper)
- 2,800 indices
- Hedge funds and hedge fund of funds
- 150 total funds (large institutional plans)
Wilshire’s analysts and industry professionals work on behalf of Wilshire Compass clients to ensure that qualitative and quantitative performance information including, holdings-level detail, within the Wilshire Investment Database is kept up-to-date and robust.
All Wilshire Compass analytics can be tailored to fit the user’s individual investment process. The product is supported by experienced investment professionals who provide user training and consultative support at a level not available with any other investment technology product.
About Wilshire Associates
Wilshire Associates, a leading global, independent investment consulting and services firm, provides consulting services, analytics solutions and customized investment products to plan sponsors, investment managers and financial intermediaries. Its business units include, Wilshire Analytics, Wilshire Consulting, Wilshire Funds Management and Wilshire Private Markets.
The firm was founded in 1972, providing revolutionary technology and acting as an early innovator in the application of investment analytics and research to investment managers in the institutional marketplace. Wilshire also is credited with helping to develop the field of quantitative investment analysis that uses mathematical tools to analyze market risks. All other business units evolved from Wilshire’s strong analytics foundation. Wilshire developed the Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM and became an early innovator in creating the industry’s integrated asset/liability analysis/simulation models as well as the industry’s practical models in risk budgeting through beta and active risk analysis. Wilshire has grown to a firm of more than 300 employees serving the investment needs of institutional clients around the world.
Based in Santa Monica, California, Wilshire provides services to clients in more than 20 countries representing more than 500 organizations with assets totaling approximately US $7 trillion.* With ten offices on four continents, Wilshire Associates and its affiliates are dedicated to providing clients with the highest quality counsel, products and services. Wilshire® is a registered service mark of Wilshire Associates Incorporated. Wilshire CompassSM, Wilshire Compass PortalSM and Wilshire Compass MonitorSM are service marks of Wilshire Associates Incorporated. Please visit http://www.wilshire.com/.
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*Assets are as of December 31, 2011, based on published data in December 24, 2012 issue of Pensions and Investments.