Cost transparency platform ClearGlass announces today that it has released a new version of its platform with significant upgrades to functionality.
The first version was released in January 2019 and supported over 250 DB, DC, Master Trust pension clients to collect, check, analyse, compare and benchmark the costs of asset management using the CTI, the LGPS and/or ILPA templates.
The new version extends the platform abilities:
• Fiduciary Managers can collect data on their underlying product suite, aggregate the costs of these products into client-facing sub-funds, and then add additional direct service and trading costs to produce CMA-compliant client-specific reports
• DC platforms, Master Trusts and Investment Platforms can create client-specific reports automatically in a similar fashion
• Investment consultants can produce client-specific MiFID II reports
• Asset Managers can use ClearGlass to upgrade to CTI Templates from EMT, LGPS or DCPT
• Pension Schemes can use the CTI cost and performance data, coupled with the ClearGlass ‘Manager Behaviour’ scores to gain better insight in to Value-for-Money. The platform is also designed to integrate other factors into the reporting process and these additional factors form the next phase of product development or partnership development for ClearGlass
• LDI products (and other fund-of-fund products) can now be viewed at either the ‘fund-of-fund’ level, or at the disaggregated level, and any special fee caps or calculations can now easily be incorporated into data submission and subsequent analysis
Dr Chris Sier, ClearGlass Chairman, said: “The new platform is really exciting because it allows clients to see so many comparative factors about each product, each manager, and each asset class in one place. We have designed it to be so much more than just a cost collection tool. It is now a governance and value-for-money tool. I’m staggered and proud that the team has achieved so much in just 16 months.”
Ritesh Singhania, ClearGlass CEO, said: “The platform is designed to be totally scalable in almost every dimension. Cost, performance, and manager behaviour are just the beginning. Our product development programme includes designing the ability to collect and analyse service level data, ESG data, and other governance factors such as culture. In addition, we have built the ability to create standardised analytical reports should clients not have the time or expertise to do their own analysis.”
Kunal Varma, ClearGlass CTO, said: “Leading the technology team from India has not been a problem. We built the first version of the platform before the current Covid-19 isolation measures were introduced. Building and launching v2 is just business as usual for the team and testimony to the friendships and trust we have stretching across the globe with the UK team, our clients and their asset managers.”