News
FOCUS - Summer 2002
Case Study: INVESCO - blazing the trail for Global compliance
Background
INVESCO Global (INVESCO) is part of the AMVESCAP Group, one of the world's largest investment management organisations. Compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS) was in line with the overall objective of AMVESCAP. In its efforts to achieve compliance, INVESCO has abided by the global Firm definition in accordance with the Standards and this definition incorporates a large number of offices, including London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Frankfurt.
Scope
Given the size, history and complex nature of the business, INVESCO felt that it needed additional expertise to manage the GIPS project internally. As a result, the PerformaGlobal software as well as PerformaConsultancy services were employed to assist INVESCO in meeting its objectives. Performa's senior consultant, Lindsey Young, was appointed in November 2000 to run the GIPS project out of London, with Simon Squires running the overseas projects. Reza Asghar, Head of Risk and Performance, was the overall Project Director.
The projects involved an initial review of all business units to assess procedures and controls and to determine the data integrity of general marketing output. However, recognising the association with the PerformaGlobal software, Lindsey was also involved with the database manager to ensure awareness, functionality and content of the software. A very successful global training day was organised, where the members of INVESCO's performance teams from around the globe were brought together providing the opportunity for procedure rationalisation. Given the limited knowledge of GIPS from the overseas offices, Lindsey's role extended beyond offering expertise in project management to encompass that of an educator, supporter, advisor and implementer within all areas of the business.
Issues Identified
In managing the project, Performa identified a number of key issues that would have impacted on the efforts of INVESCO to achieve compliance. Amongst the main issues highlighted were:
- The consistency in the calculation of performance returns
- The completeness of archiving records
- The level of automation and integrity checks across a number of business areas
- The resource requirements
In working together with Performa, these issues were acknowledged and promptly addressed by INVESCO via a well-defined project plan with clear escalation procedures. In addition, key project members were appointed to allow a more efficient and defined allocation of responsibility. The effect was minimal hindrance to the completion of the project in a timely manner.
Conclusion
As a result of achieving global GIPS compliance, it is widely accepted that INVESCO is amongst the very first truly Global Firms to meet what are recognised as the highest performance standards in the industry.