Global Investment Performance Standards: Widely Adopted But in Some Places a Tough Sell

While more than 1,600 organizations, including the top 25 asset managers, claim compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS), sizable industry segments remain outside the fold. Recent and pending adjustments in the framework are designed to close those gaps.

Efforts by the CFA Institute, which has been responsible for the performance-presentation and -reporting program in its current form since the late 1990s, include a trade-error guidance statement and a paper on considerations for trade-error policies. At the most recent GIPS annual conference in November, the institute opened a comment period on new best practices for return attribution reporting.

In a post-conference update, ACA Group noted “important changes” which have since taken effect: a Guidance Statement for Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) Portfolios; Verifier Standards for asset owners and fiduciary management providers (FMPs) to U.K. pension schemes, reinforcing independence and disclosure principles; and Composites for FMPs.

Julia Reyes, ACA Performance Services

Julia Reyes, partner, ACA Performance Services, said GIPS continues to...