Three Managers Begin Using CheckFree APL Multiple Strategy Portfolio Functionlity
ATLANTA and JERSEY CITY, N.J., Apr 1, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ --
CheckFree Investment Services, a division of CheckFree Corporation (Nasdaq:
CKFR), today announced that three new managers added to Merrill Lynch's Consults
Diversified Portfolios (CDP) roster are using CheckFree APL's multiple strategy
portfolio (MSP) functionality. CheckFree Investment Services is the leading
provider of outsourced trading, portfolio management, accounting and reporting
services to broker/dealers and money managers in separately managed accounts
(SMA).
Merrill Lynch unveiled CDP last year, as a flagship offering from Merrill Lynch
Investment Management (MLIM). Earlier this month, Merrill Lynch added three new
outside managers to its diversified CDP roster: PIMCO Advisors, CDC IXIS Asset
Management Advisors Group and AIM/INVESCO.
"Multiple strategy portfolios continue to evolve, and CheckFree has supported
the progression of each MSP generation," said Alex Marasco, CheckFree Investment
Services executive vice president and general manager. First generation MSP
resides within the sponsor organization and in most cases, the asset management
arm of the sponsor firm that oversees styles and trading for the account. Second
generation involves a sponsor organization aligning with a single asset manager
that trades the account, and provides all of the strategies. Third generation
MSP has the sponsor organization partnering with several asset managers, each
providing sub-models for different strategies. Fourth generation MSP resembles
the third, except that the strategy allocation for each client can be changed
dynamically.
The benefit of a diversified portfolio is the tailored combination of investment
styles. "Clients who desired this level of diversification within a privately
managed account prior to the launch of CDP, would have needed at least four to
five individual Consults accounts to match the benefits and style
diversification of a single Consults Diversified Portfolio," said Curt Overway,
senior vice president, CDC IXIS Asset Management Advisors Group.
Each manager loads its accounts from Merrill Lynch onto CheckFree APL, and
manages the CDP assets to their style. Merrill Lynch determines the allocation
models, while the managers adhere to the respective risk aversion, asset
allocation and diversity for each of its investing clients. Each manager is
utilizing APL-MSP to fulfill the overlay management role.
Last year, CheckFree introduced APL-MSP, the industry's first set of trading,
reporting and back-office tools that provide specialized workflow and
operational support for multi-style portfolios. MSPs enable broker/dealers and
investment managers to structure separately managed accounts consisting of
multiple investment strategies in a single portfolio. CheckFree's MSP tools
support portfolios consisting of internal or "affiliated" managers of a sponsor
firm, as well as "best-of-breed" programs. Multi-style accounts with
unaffiliated managers are often referred to as "best-of-breed", because the
master investment manager retains control and can make changes according to a
portfolio's performance objectives. As a result, investors get all the benefits
of a team of managers who bring their respective style expertise and trading
strategies to the account.
CheckFree APL serves as the leading separately managed accounts platform,
providing remote processing services to sponsor firms, money managers and
financial advisors for the automation of investment management, trading,
portfolio performance and investor reporting. CheckFree APL's open platform
enables approximately 39 of the top 50 Wall Street (sponsor) firms and 36 of the
top 40 managers to interface with each other, and operate in a straight- through
processing environment. Institutional money managers also use CheckFree APL to
enter and maintain account data, manage trades and measure portfolio
performance.
About Merrill Lynch (www.ml.com )
Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading financial management and advisory
companies, with offices in 36 countries and total client assets of approximately
$1.3 trillion. As an investment bank, it is a leading global underwriter of debt
and equity securities and strategic advisor to corporations, governments,
institutions and individuals worldwide. Through Merrill Lynch Investment
Managers, the company is one of the world's largest managers of financial
assets.
About CheckFree Investment Services (www.checkfreeinvsvcs.com )
Headquartered in Jersey City (NJ), CheckFree Investment Services provides a
broad range of investment management services to thousands of financial
institutions. The company's staff of 350 professionals operates from six offices
nationwide, including Research Triangle Park, location of its M- Solutions
software applications: M-Search, the leading separate accounts manager database
and analytical tool; M-Pact, a Web-based, enterprise solution for manager
analysis, reporting and proposal generation; and M-Watch, a performance
reporting and measurement system. Clients of CheckFree Investment Services
manage approximately 1.2 million portfolios totaling more than half a trillion
dollars in assets. The CheckFree APL platform is leveraged by asset management,
broker/dealer firms and investment advisors on a remote processing basis.
About CheckFree (www.checkfreecorp.com )
CheckFree (Nasdaq: CKFR) is the leading provider of financial electronic
commerce services and products. Founded in 1981 and celebrating its 22nd year in
e-commerce, CheckFree is comprised of three divisions: Electronic Commerce,
Software, and Investment Services. CheckFree launched the first fully integrated
electronic billing and payment solution in 1997. In the quarter ended December
31, 2002, about 8 million consumers initiated online payments through services
offered by CheckFree's Electronic Commerce division. The company has multi-year
contracts with 270 of the nation's top billers to provide online billing and
payment through 784 financial services organizations, including banks, brokerage
firms, Internet portals and content sites and personal financial management
(PFM) software.
CheckFree's Software division provides solutions through three operating units:
CheckFree ACH Solutions, CheckFree Financial and Compliance Solutions (CFACS),
and CheckFree i-Solutions. CheckFree ACH Solutions provides software and
services that are used to process more than two-thirds of the nation's eight
billion Automated Clearing House payments, while CFACS provides reconciliation
and compliance software and services to more than 400 organizations in the
banking, brokerage, utility, retail, insurance and credit card industries, among
others. CheckFree i-Solutions is the leading provider of e-billing and
e-statement software and services for both business-to- consumer and
business-to-business applications, with more billers as clients than all of its
competitors have combined.
Certain of the Company's statements in this press release are not purely
historical, and as such are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include statements
regarding management's intentions, plans, beliefs, expectations or projections
of the future. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties,
including without limitation, the various risks inherent in the Company's
business, and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the
Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2002 (filed
September 26, 2002); Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2002 (filed
November 15, 2002); and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 2002 (filed
February 12, 2003).
SOURCE CheckFree Corporation
CONTACT: media relations, Judy DeRango Wicks, +1-678-375-1595, or
jdwicks@checkfree.com , or investor relations, Tina Moore, +1
678-375-1278, or
tmoore@checkfree.com , both of CheckFree
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KEYWORD: Georgia
New Jersey
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: CPR
STW
ECM
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SUBJECT CODE: LIC
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