BARRA Announces Total Plan Risk(TM)
November 24, 1997 09:15 AM
BERKELEY, Calif., Nov. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- BARRA, Inc. BARZ today announced the first in a new generation of products and services designed to analyze the risk of portfolios with multi-asset class holdings -- BARRA Total Plan Risk(TM). Based upon BARRA's existing industry-standard equity and fixed income risk models, this new approach to risk modeling provides investment managers and institutional investors the ability to determine the overall risk of mixed portfolios.
BARRA Total Plan Risk is deliverable as a stand alone software product or with extensive consultative support if desired. The BARRA Total Plan Risk System is a Windows-based analytical tool that will allow investment managers to aggregate both security selection and asset allocation risk for multi-asset class portfolios in either a domestic or international context. The system will analyze both total risk relative to cash and active risk relative to any multi-asset class benchmark from any currency perspective. BARRA will also provide the Total Plan Risk analysis in a variety of service forms, including via redistribution through third parties and in the context of a consulting relationship with various divisions of the company.
"This new holdings-based risk analysis method offers a unique capability to investors worldwide concerned about heightened volatility across multiple markets," said Andrew Rudd, chairman and chief executive officer of BARRA, Inc.
ABP, the largest pension fund in the Netherlands and one of the largest in the world, has adopted this approach installing the BARRA Total Plan Risk System at their Heerlen headquarters. The system allows their pension fund managers to obtain a single total fund risk number relative both to the fund benchmark and the universe of investable assets, enabling better control and oversight of the fund's activities.
"The Total Plan Risk analysis gives us insights into the risk exposures of the fund. We see the system as an important step towards integrating all of the fund's assets including listed, unlisted and alternative investments with an overall perspective," said Dr. Jean Frijns, member of the board of directors of ABP, and chief investment officer of ABP Investments.
BARRA Total Plan Risk is designed to address the needs of a variety of professional investors, including: balanced fund managers; investment managers with multi-asset class mandates from a particular pension fund; pension funds with both internal and external portfolios crossing asset class boundaries; and trust banks, and consultants.
BARRA, founded in 1975, provides innovative analytical models, software, consulting and money management services that enable its clients worldwide to make superior investment and trading decisions. Based in Berkeley, Calif., BARRA also has offices in major financial centers throughout the world. Information on BARRA is also available on-line at barra.com.
Each statement contained in this news release containing any form of the word "will" is a forward-looking statements that may involve a number of risk factors and uncertainties. Among other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: availability of adequate third-party data and distribution arrangements on reasonable terms and at reasonable prices; and the ability of software and data to accommodate date changes after December 31, 1999 and the adoption of the European Monetary Unit. Further information on potential factors that could affect the company's financial results are included in the company's Form 10-K for the 1997 fiscal year filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Please refer to the company's SEC filings, copies of which are available from the company without charge for further information. SOURCE BARRA Inc |
