Best Practice in Asset Manager und Fund Selection
investRFP is an innovative tool to support asset owners
in their selection process.
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 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 globebut the principle of working in the best interest
of beneficiaries and clients is a universal concept.
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.
Best Practice Principles
In the context of a Search Request investRFP recommends to asset owners to follow these 12 fundamental principles:
- Uphold fiduciary duty throughout the process and act in the interest of beneficiaires.
- Define the level of transparency to match your individual requirements.
- Communicate with providers utilizing the integrated message system.
- Follow a structured process and select a suitable request format (RFI, RFP, etc.).
- Address a broad and unbiased universe of providers or define your own universe.
- Use your proprietary questionnaire or select from a range of industry templates on the platform.
- Define a timeline and schedule of events and inform about any expected delays.
- Provide guidance on the relative weighting of sections in the evaluation process.
- Integrate sustainability and responsible investment principles where applicable.
- Analyze responses and benefit from evaluation and documentation options during the selection process.
- Value the work and effort of disqualified providers by giving meaningful feedback.
- 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.
investRFP.com is not an investment consultant and does not provide brokerage or investment advisory services. Investment consultants can be invited by asset owners and work on the platform on a request-specific basis.
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
3 STEPS ON INVESTRFP.COM
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, peergroup 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.
Asset Managers
Register on the investRFP.com platform at no cost and get notified on investment search, due diligence, peergroup 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 request 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.
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 5 Asset Managers
The asset manager ranking by number of responses (Top 5): BlackRock, JPMorgan, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, Schroders (as per 31 December, 2021)
Top 50 Asset Managers
The following 50 asset management companies ranked on top based on the number of responses to investor requests on investRFP (as per 31 December, 2021, in alphabetic order):
Aberdeen Standard, AllianceBernstein, Allianz Global Investors, Amundi, Aviva Investors, AXA IM, BlackRock, BlueBay, BMO, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Candriam, Columbia Threadneedle, Credit Suisse, DWS, Erste AM, Fidelity, Fisher Investments, Franklin Templeton, Goldman Sachs, Hermes, HSBC, Invesco, J. Safra Sarasin, Janus Henderson, JPMorgan, Jupiter, Lazard, LGT Capital Partners, Lombard Odier, M&G, Man Group, Metzler, MFS, Morgan Stanley, Neuberger Berman, Ninety One, NNIP, Nomura, Pictet, PIMCO, Quoniam, Robeco, Schroders, State Street Global Advisors, T.Rowe Price, UBS, Unigestion, Union Investment, Wellington
A number of leading asset management companies in specific asset classes (passive, private equity, private debt, alternatives, infrastructure, etc.) are also active on the investRFP platform but do not rank on top as the number of private markets and alternative requests is smaller. Major companies include Blackstone, Carlyle, CVC, KKR, Partners Group, Vanguard, etc.
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
Contact
investRFP.com Support Team
General inquiries: support@investRFP.com
T: +43 1 5333444 10
e-fundresearch.com Data GmbH
Universitätsring 10 / 7th floor
1010 Vienna – Austria