The first is an alliance with Lipper, a Reuters company and a global leader in supplying mutual fund information, analytical tools and commentary to the financial community. As part of the alliance, FactSet will receive and redistribute Lipper’s industry-leading mutual fund index performance data. With 30 years of funds analysis experience, Lipper provides unparalleled expertise and insight into the funds industry.
Lipper’s Index Service tracks more than 70 open-end equity and fixed income indices, allowing portfolio managers to judge funds against comparable peer benchmarks. Based upon Lipper’s exclusive fund classification system, these indices track total return performance of the largest funds within each Lipper category.
The addition of the Lipper indices to Portfolio Manager’s Workstation lets investment management firms measure their portfolio returns against market benchmarks, specific peers and now, peer benchmarks, said Rolf Agather, FactSet’s Director of Portfolio Analytics Development. This is the first of many types of Lipper data that will be available on FactSet.
We are excited about integrating Lipper data with FactSet’s portfolio analysis tools, said Sarah Dunn, Lipper’s CEO. The Lipper Index Service allows for an apples-to-apples comparison of a mutual fund with an index consisting of peers with similar investment styles. The combination of Lipper information with FactSet’s powerful analytics should make our respective services more useful to our joint clients.
In an additional effort to provide value to its clients, FactSet also announced the release of Portfolio Analysis 2.0, the latest version of the company’s holdings-based portfolio analysis tool. The flagship product of FactSet’s PMW suite of applications, Portfolio Analysis 2.0 builds upon the original version’s functionality by making it easier to gain insight into a portfolio’s fundamentals and performance. Key features include more accurate group contribution and expanded report writing capabilities, such as two-factor attribution, sub-period reports and multi-portfolio reports. A Webcast demonstration of Portfolio Analysis 2.0 will be held today on FactSet’s Web site.
PMW provides investment managers globally with the tools necessary to perform in-depth holdings- and returns-based analysis, said Chris Ellis, FactSet’s Director of Portfolio Analytics Sales. The latest version of Portfolio Analysis and the integration of mutual fund performance data from Lipper highlight two major enhancements that will extend the capabilities of investment management firms around the world.
