UKIPS, the UK version of the GIPS (Global Investment Performance Standards) was unveiled by Phillipe Lambert, chairman of the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) investment performance code monitoring group, at the NAPF’s Investment Conference 2000 in Eastbourne last month.
Heralded as a GIPS+, UKIPS, a voluntary code, requires all investment managers seeking compliance to be verified by an independent third party.
Any firm can now be declared UKIPS compliant, although the option exists to delay until January 1 2005.
Lambert noted that the NAPF had toyed with the idea of making all trade accounting from January 1, 2001 mandatory, as well as requiring performance figures from a firm’s tenth and 90th percentile median.
These are now only recommended practices and managers can also remain with the current NAPF investment standards should they wish.
Lambert commented: “The main reason for producing UKIPS is that the NAPF decided it did not to be excluded from these global standards.”
To be UKIPS compliant managers must show an initial five years of track record as well as firm-wide analysis, including a definition of ‘the firm’ and disclosure of composites on a non selective basis including all discretionary fee-paying accounts.
UKIPS will be overseen by the AIMR Investment Performance Council (IPC), which now has 15 seats selected globally.
John Stannard, chairman of the council comments: “It was important that the IPC was not just seen as an Anglo-Saxon grouping and that the attempt to be global was taken seriously. Japan, for example will have its own seat and actually introduced performance standards one year ago.” Hugh Wheelan