In August 2011 the ‘Open Protocol Enabling Risk Aggregation’ standard was launched as a means to align transparency reporting formats and methodologies to benefit investors. Citco participated in the committee and helped define the standard to meet both Investor demand as well as acceptable levels of transparency for Investment Managers.
Citco’s contribution was based upon its extensive experience in the development of the Citco Transparency Platform which provides risk and transparency reports including:
Aggregation, attribution and transparency reporting developed specifically for investors, Investment Managers and regulators accessible through a dedicated portal
Investor NAV Disclosure Letter summarizing service levels including core responsibilities, statistics on asset confirmation, price verification and counterparty balances
Full service risk management reports and desktop tools for daily monitoring of risk exposure , P&L/Return analysis, VAR and scenario analysis
Regulatory reporting services to assist clients with Forms PF and SLT
In addition to these services, Citco is now also able to produce Open Protocol reports for hedge fund clients.
Commenting on the Open Protocol standard, William Keunen (pictured), global director of Citco Fund Services, says: “Opera meets the objective of providing investors with a consistent level of transparency reporting on their hedge fund investments and we are delighted to add this service to our offering.”
The Open Protocol reports, together with other fund information, are accessible to approved investors via the Citco Investor Portal, which provides advanced security features. Not only will Open Protocol reports and additional Citco reporting be posted on a monthly basis, but managers will also be granted access to post their proprietary reports, newsletters and other relevant reports in the portal. Investors invested in multiple Citco funds will have access to all relevant reporting through a single point of entry, and will be able to request temporary access to view reporting for additional funds.
"This is a massive boost to the initiative", says Simon Ruddick, managing director of Albourne Partners (the Open Protocol’s co-chair). "As a firm, we will be asking all funds to report to us on this basis and we think it will be very hard for funds to explain to our investor clients any reluctance to produce these reports when they know that their funds’ administrator is capable of producing it.
The Open Protocol guidelines provide a vehicle for managers to provide consistent transparency reporting in the current climate of increased investor demand for transparency.
