Best Practice in Asset Manager & Fund Selection
investRFP is an innovative tool to support asset owners
in their search and selection process.
Jayna Vishram Joins investRFP as
Global Head of Client Relations and Marketing
[London, 02 September 2024] – investRFP, a leading platform in financial and investment technology recognized for Best Practices in Asset Manager & Fund Selection, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jayna Vishram as Global Head of Client Relations and Marketing. Jayna brings over 18 years of experience in client management and strategic development, making her an invaluable addition to the investRFP team. Jayna joins investRFP from IPE Quest, where she held the position of Director. During her tenure, she was instrumental in driving customer-centric initiatives and expanding the company’s client base.
Clearstream and investRFP.com join forces to offer improved investment fund selection in the banking sector
The partnership between Clearstream and investRFP.com is poised to revolutionize the RFP process employed by fund distributors. This collective solution will empower fund distributors to conduct more efficient qualitative assessments and streamline investment decision-making, resulting in mutual benefits for distributors and their clients as well as asset managers.
Best Practice in Search & Selection
Asset manager & fund selection is a critical step in implementing any investment program or strategy. The investment policy statement and the investment objectives have important implications for asset manager & fund selection.
The objective of the search and selection process is to identify the most suitable manager or investment that adds value to the asset owner’s portfolio.
The process of hiring an asset manager or selecting a strategy requires a disciplined and structured approach to fulfill the fiduciary duty. We understand that the laws governing fiduciary duty might vary across the globe but the principle of working in the best interest of beneficiaries and clients is a universal concept.
Best Practice Principles
In the context of a Search Request investRFP recommends to asset owners to follow these 12 fundamental principles:
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Uphold fiduciary duty throughout the process and act in the interest of beneficiaires. |
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Define the level of transparency to match your individual requirements. |
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Communicate with providers utilizing the integrated message system. |
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Follow a structured process and select a suitable request format (RFI, RFP, etc.). |
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Address a broad and unbiased universe of providers or define your own universe. |
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Use your proprietary questionnaire or select from a range of industry templates on the platform. |
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Define a timeline and schedule of events and inform about any expected delays. |
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Provide guidance on the relative weighting of sections in the evaluation process. |
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Integrate sustainability and responsible investment principles where applicable. |
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Analyze responses and benefit from evaluation and documentation options during the selection process. |
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Value the work and effort of disqualified providers by giving meaningful feedback. |
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Finalize the shortlist and continue direct communication with providers. |
These fundamental principles apply to RFIs, RFPs and all other request formats.
investRFP.com Approach
The investRFP.com platform was developed to support asset owners and asset managers with a digital tool to manage RFIs, RFPs and other request formats.
investRFP.com as the operator provides a web-based interactive communications platform for the exchange of information between request issuers and providers who can upload content and share it with other platform users. The data flow thus takes place directly from user to user. investRFP.com does not have access to the information at any time, nor does investRFP.com access the content of the documents uploaded. investRFP.com does not own the information provided by asset owners and providers and is not responsible for the content.
Flexibility for Asset Owners
Request issuers use the investRFP platform in a flexible way and have full discretion over the request format and process, the manager target universe, the content of the questionnaire, timing, weighting, evaluation, selection process and feedback. We understand that asset owners work in different environments. The investRFP.com platform is used by selection teams of different sizes and the composition of the team can be defined on an individual request basis.
All Asset Classes and Legal Structures
The platform can be applied for search requests in all asset classes and for any legal structure or domicile. Selection criteria can be defined in a flexible way which conventional databases might fail to deliver.
Request Policy and Regulatory Requirements
Request issuer have full discretion over the process. They can follow investment team or company policy, industry recommendations, regulatory guidelines or global frameworks, such as the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct, the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement, The World Bank Procurement Framework including the Sustainable Procurement Guidance, etc.
investRFP Request Formats
Request for Proposal (RFP) is a formal document in which a Request Issuer solicits proposals from qualified providers to perform investment management or other services as part of a structured selection process.
Monitoring Request can be part of a comprehensive oversight program of mandated asset managers to understand the risks and sources of performance on a continuous basis.
Request for Information (RFI) is a much less formal process in which the Request Issuer contacts providers for initial information or an update on the range of services, cost and other facts.
Disclosure Request is issued by asset owners to receive information from asset managers to meet regulatory and public disclosure requirements on strategies, funds or companies.
Due Diligence Request provides an information base for the asset owners on an asset management company, strategy or product. It is not directly connected to a mandate or investment.
Reporting Request is used to provide reporting information on strategies and/or funds to meet reporting requirements of clients, regulators or supervisory authorities.
Peer Group Review Request is a competitive analysis of a specific group of asset management companies (mandated or not) or strategies on an ad hoc or continuous basis to provide up to date rankings for asset owners.
ESG Screening Request gives asset owners the opportunity to compare ESG policies, strategies, competencies and resources of asset managers based on a customizable questionnaire.
3 Steps on investRFP.com
Asset Managers
Register on the investRFP.com platform at no cost and get notified on investment search, due diligence, peer group review, monitoring, disclosure and reporting requests free of charge.
Respond to requests by providing asset owners with your most current information specifically required in unique requests from asset owners which conventional databases might fail to deliver.
Use all services and tools on the platform at no cost except the flat response fee when creating a response for asset owners (no other costs involved and no participation in your management fees).
Keep asset owners up to date with your company profile, content, ESG information and data.
Communicate with asset owners using a request-related message system and get feedback from asset owners on your response.
Benefit from the integrated digital process on the investRFP.com platform and the accessibility of your data on the platform.
Make the investRFP.com platform an integral part of your RFP and data team and work towards continuously improving your process and optimizing your resource efficiency.
Asset Owners
Benefit from the Best Practice options on the investRFP.com platform and avoid conflicts of interests.
Get unbiased access to the global asset manager universe and their most recent information tailored to your unique search request requirements.
Select the most suitable among the eight Request formats offered on the platform.
Choose a multi-phased search and selection approach when most efficient for you or apply a traditional single-phased process.
Use your own questionnaires or select from a large number of easily customizable industry questionnaire templates in a flexible request format.
Source information from asset managers to meet due diligence, peer group review, competitive analysis, monitoring, disclosure and reporting requirements.
Benefit from a highly time- and cost-effective integrated process for search, analysis, selection, feedback, documentation and reporting. Asset owners and investors use the investRFP.com platform at no cost.
Contact the investRFP.com support team for any questions you might have (support@investRFP.com or +431533344410).
Key Facts
Investor Requests issued in 25 Countries
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States (Investor domiciles of RFI, RFP, due diligence and other requests).
Investors and asset owner groups on the platform include Pension Funds, Insurance Companies, Sovereign Investors, Central Banks, Commercial Banks, Private Banks, Corporates, Fund Selectors, Family Offices, Foundations, etc.
“investRFP.com as a digitized evaluation platform was especially useful to me in that it reduced and streamlined the manual effort to capture, compile and manage the overall selection process. The Fund’s Board of Trustees selection committee used the platform to effectively and efficiently screen, evaluate and rank RFP respondent’s qualifications and other information that was provided.”
CFO, U.S. Public Pension Fund
Top Asset Managers
The following asset management companies rank among the most active on investRFP over the past three years (in alphabetic order):
abrdn, Advent Capital, Aegon, Alcentra, AllianceBernstein, Allianz Global Investors, Allspring, Amundi, Artemis, Aviva Investors, Ardian, Ares, AXA IM, Baillie Gifford, Bantleon, BlackRock, Blackstone, BNP Paribas, Brown Advisory, Candriam, Capital Group, Carlyle, Columbia Threadneedle, Credit Suisse, CVC, Danske, DWS, DekaBank, DPAM, Eastspring, Erste AM, Eurazeo, Evli Bank, Fidelity, Fisch, Fisher Investments, Franklin Templeton, Goldman Sachs, Federated Hermes, Flossbach von Storch, HSBC, IFM Investors, Invesco, J. Safra Sarasin, Janus Henderson, JPMorgan, Jupiter, KEPLER Fonds, KKR, Lazard, LFDE, LGIM, LGT Capital Partners, Lombard Odier, M&G, MacKay Shields, Man Group, Metzler, MFS, Morgan Stanley, Neuberger Berman, Newton, Ninety One, Nomura, Nordea, Nuveen, Oak Hill Advisors, Oaktree Capital, Partners Group, Pictet, PIMCO, Pinebridge, Polen Capital, Quoniam, Raiffeisen Capital Management, RBC BlueBay, Robeco, Schroders, State Street Global Advisors, Storebrand, SUSI Partners, Stepstone, TOBAM, T.Rowe Price, UBS, Unigestion, Union Investment, Wellington, WHEB (in total >1500 asset management groups located in 69 countries).
ESG Tools & Solutions
Since 2017 asset owners have been working with information provided in responses to the ESG and RI Integration in Asset Management request. Asset owners can use individual ranking functions in their asset manager & fund selection process to meet diverse ESG disclosure requirements. It provides 130+ Asset Management company Responses to 14 Due Diligence questions issued by PRI.
Due to asset owners’ demand for topic-based ESG evaluation options four further tools were launched to source and rank information on Diversity & Inclusion, Climate Change, ESG Research & Information, Active Ownership and Voting.
The ESG Screening tool with a customizable default questionnaire and free access to an ESG questionnaire database enables asset owners to flexibly combine their individual requirements with the Best Practices of the industry in order to screen their existing asset managers and potential future asset managers. Investors use all services at no cost.
Asset owners also benefit from valuable content and ESG perspectives presented on investESG.eu, a dedicated ESG online media platform providing asset owners and other readers restriction-free access to an industry-relevant ESG investing discourse, expert insights and research resources committed by various standard setters, interdisciplinary experts, asset owners and managers worldwide.
Innovation & Technology
We monitor the evolution of Best Practice Processes globally and work with asset owners and asset managers to continuously develop the platform. The users of the platform are at the center of our attention.
“It’s not about how users operate the platform but how the platform serves its users.”
(in analogy to a quote by Jeff Lawson, Founder and CEO of TWILIO and author of the book “Ask Your Developer”)
Technology & Data Security
GDPR Compliance
Optional Two Factor Authentication
Highest SSL Standards: 256-bit AES SSL/TLS Encryption
Servers/Data Centers: ISO 27001 certified, 24/7 protected
Uptime: 99,98 percent (over 5 years)
Contact
Jayna Vishram
Global Head of Client Relations and Marketing
T: +44 7702 614921
E: vishram@investrfp.com
Support Team: support@investRFP.com
General inquiries: info@investRFP.com
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