Northern Trust upgrades Passport institutional Web portal

Source: Northern Trust

Northern Trust announced today it has deployed a new version of its multi-faceted web portal, Passport®, enhanced to address the specialized needs of institutional investors to quickly access and effectively analyze their investment information.

The new Passport provides an intuitive experience that eases collaboration and data integration across Northern Trust's global operating platform for asset servicing and asset management.

"Sophisticated global investors know that Northern Trust Passport is a secure, one-stop entry point for asset information, functionality and the market-leading analytical tools they need to oversee large, complex portfolios," said Paul d'Ouville, global head of product management for Corporate & Institutional Services at Northern Trust. "With our new Passport, institutional clients will leverage features that are familiar to Internet users worldwide to organize their desktop for maximum efficiency while maintaining the highest standards of security and data integrity."

Delivered with a refreshed look and feel, aspects of the new Passport design include:

* Task-focused layout utilizing "drag and drop" capabilities to customize the user experience.
* "Type-ahead" search functionality for more precise retrieval of data, such as portfolio statements or asset list.
* Dedicated, interactive workspace to define and schedule reports for electronic delivery to the destination of the client's choice.
* In-depth details about reports to ensure accuracy and visual graphics to enable clients to quickly locate the templates needed.

Northern Trust Passport utilizes Northern Trust's integrated, global technology infrastructure to deliver key investor information such as asset allocation, transaction history, and market valuation to clients across the world. Passport allows all users, whether the chief investment officer of a U.S. endowment, a U.K. hedge fund manager or an Asian central bank risk officer, to organize graphic presentation and detailed asset or portfolio reports to meet their needs.

A key risk management tool on Passport is Exposure, which enables clients to quickly collate information about exposure related to a single entity - either issuer or counterpartycountycounterparty. Through their Passport dashboard, clients can immediately retrieve total holdings in any one issuer/counterparty across exposure types, asset types and accounts, including the option to peek-through to holdings in commingled funds. As the new Passport design is rolled out, Northern Trust continues to enhance Exposure and other tools for institutional clients. Exposure recently incorporated direct and indirect positions from securities lending collateral pools, in addition to:

* Direct market exposure through physical securities and
* Counterparty exposure to derivatives transactions.

The tool is available to institutional clients and investment managers on a global basis.

Data retrieval and report generation are critical functions for all clients managing complex portfolios. To deliver these details more efficiently, Passport now displays representative sample images of all reports in the template library along with descriptions and report parameters. Running and scheduling reports is also made easier with the ability to create and save data filters that can auto-populate the report with a single click. And more communication tools on the site allow users to multitask and save time.

Institutional clients can take advantage of the redesigned online learning within Passport that includes step-by-step instruction guides, video tutorials, integrated help topics on each page and enrollment opportunities for instructor-led, interactive training.

"Our upgraded Passport is a product of melding our culture of client-focused development with user-centric design principles, creating a rich, intuitive user experience," said Geordan Capes, global head of Passport product development at Northern Trust. "As investment complexity grows, it is even more important to harness the rapidly changing landscape of technology and build capabilities to enable clients to quickly retrieve the data they need to make smart decisions."

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