Investortools » Custom Index Manager

The Custom Index Manager™ is a portfolio risk analysis and return attribution system. Custom Index Manager™ utilizes the bonds in the Standard & Poor’s and Investortools Municipal Bond Indices, or the Barclays Municipal Indices, to better enhance and explain portfolio total return.

Seamlessly integrated with the Perform^® portfolio management system, Custom Index Manager™ enables a user to compare portfolios to appropriately benchmarked indices by structure and performance.

Using the actual bond characteristics available through Custom Index Manager™, investment professionals are able to analyze the detailed composition of an appropriately matched index. With Custom Index Manager™, a user can:

Create custom index definitions that match investment parameters objectives and constraints of corresponding portfolios
Generate reports to view the full descriptions of all index holdings
Calculate cumulative returns which geometrically link sub-period performance results
Determine the factors contributing to return
Model future index returns by simulating possible yield curve changes

Custom Index Manager™ includes an advanced return attribution analysis, both on a portfolio and an index. The system’s attribution analysis enables users to:

Attribute portions of excess returns to various factors (e.g. duration, sector, quality, etc.)
Evaluate the effectiveness of portfolio “bets” and allocation decisions
Isolate the effects of futures and interest rate swaps
Review the historical performance of portfolios and respective benchmarks

The Custom Index Manager™ provides transparency to the more than 40,000 bonds in the Standard & Poor’s / Investortools Municipal Bond Index Universe, as well as the Barclays municipal bond universe. Index bond pricing history and security descriptions are available. Index price history includes both beginning and end-of-month, with other options available. Current month’s index holdings adn return data are typically available by the second business day of the month. [For information on Barclays bond availability, contact Investortools.]

Because of data transparency, the Custom Index Manager™ can display index data by common groupings such as maturity, quality, modified and OA duration, state, and insurer – while easily handling a variety of other factors (e.g. yield return, market return and total return). A built-in reporting engine further enables users to develop other reports and graphs to suit their individual analysis needs.

The Custom Index Manager™ contains history for all the Standard & Poor’s / Investortools Municipal Bond Indices, or the Barclays municipal index, allowing you to analyze performance of your portfolios historically. The Allocation Attribution ... Continue

We offer complete transparency to the bonds that constitute the Standard & Poor’s / Investortools Municipal Bond Indices. Over 40,000 index bonds in the Custom Index Manager™ are available with security descriptions and end-of-month pricing beginning in December of 1998... Continue

An unlimited number of custom indices can be created from the set of the 40,000+ bonds in the main Standard & Poor’s / Investortools Municipal Bond Indices. These contain over ten years of index and bond-price history... Continue