How to advance your investment process...
Staying on top of markets and understanding how complex issues might impact portfolios is one of the most important roles for CIOs, portfolio builders, analysts, and other investment professionals.
And in a digital world, making sense of the huge mass of market data and insights is becoming even more challenging. Investors not only hate to miss out on critical information, but it’s also a professional imperative that investment decisions are backed by balanced analysis and adequate basis.
CIOs, portfolio builders, and advisors have been leaning on information hubs like Bloomberg, Morningstar and eVestment for decades. These platforms leverage ‘network effects’ whereby the more data and users these platforms acquire, the more useful and appealing they are to market participants.
And it’s not just in quantitative and qualitative due diligence information where this dynamic is playing our. Whilst developing Markets Recon, we spoke to numerous CIOs, portfolio builders, and investment consultants about applying the same principles to another critical area: Investment insights and intelligence.
Often labelled as marketing material for compliance and regulatory reasons, we found that CIOs, fund selectors and other allocators/advisors value these insights greatly as these insights back up security selection and portfolio construction decisions.
Here is how CIOs and other investment pros are leveraging platforms like Markets Recon to advance their investment process.
Aggregating quality analysis
An investment research and insights platform like Markets Recon aggregates top-tier research reports and articles across a wide range of investment topics and sources. This aggregation saves invaluable time for professional investors who would otherwise need to visit numerous asset management websites individually or subscribe to email newsletters. There are over 5,000 asset management firms globally; that would be a lot of email!
Tailored content
Investment professionals also benefit from the convenience of tailored web and email based on their preferences and user history. This Amazon-ification is impacting all aspects of our digital lifestyles, and the advent of artificial intelligence will only make this performing investment research and analysis more streamlined. Search functions already enables users to obtain a quick overview of the latest and most relevant content from a treasure trove of white papers and in-depth analyses.
Objective and diverse perspectives
Another benefit for investment professionals is objectivity of analysis, where balanced investment views can be sourced through a diverse range of papers and investment insights. This balanced approach is crucial for CIOs and other professionals seeking to challenge their own thinking or that of their advisors. Ownership bias and overconfidence bias is always a risk in investment analysis, so CIOs and others are using investment intelligence platforms to at least partially ‘de-risk’ their theses and portfolio allocations.
To further strengthen risk management
Markets are always moving, and professional investors are continuously reviewing the latest market and manager data, as well as the latest relevant perspectives as part of their commitment to investing with adequate basis to support their investment decisions. CIOs and portfolio builders are using investment insights platforms information on market outlooks, specific investment ideas, and risk analysis models all in one place.
Identifying potential ‘hidden gem’ managers
Some CIOs we have spoken to express interests in uncovering asset managers they may not be familiar with. Quality information and insightful analysis can come from many corners of the market, not just from the biggest brand name managers. Part of their investment process involves managing manager concentration risk, and resources like Markets Recon enable them to find boutique or emerging managers who may have an edge in certain style or strategy categories.
The advantage of independence
When navigating the complexities of global markets, an independent investment intelligence platform can provide a trusted partner for investment professionals aiming to enhance their knowledge, refine their strategies, and ultimately, achieve better outcomes for their portfolios and clients.