Products September 23, 2003

Barra Releases New Portfolio Manager Risk Analysis Tool

September 23, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Broader asset and index coverage and added functionality to assist portfolio managers in better understanding the complexities of the underlying risk in their portfolios are among the components of Cosmos 3.1 - the newest version of The Barra Cosmos SystemT.
Reported by

Cosmos 3.1 offers the new features to enhance risk analysis and management to assist portfolio managers in optimizing return in multi-currency,global fixed income portfolios, according to a news release.    Among those enhancements are expanded coverage and new measures of spread risk for emerging markets and additional indices, such as:

  • SSB WorldBIG, including analytics and coverage ofmortgages in the index
  • iBoxx Euro credit index
  • Sterling credit index.

This is in addition to other index families offered in Cosmos

Additionally, the latest release offers Barra Implied Ratings, a market-implied indicator of credit risk with quantitative measures that highlights issuerstrading at different spreads from their peers.  New features thatcapitalize on Barra Implied Ratings are:

  • Credit Rating Mismatch –anindicatorof issues where spread-based Barra Implied Ratings differ most from agencyratings
  • Historical Ratings Report –a historical view of changes inBarra Implied Ratings, agency ratings and option-adjusted spreads.

Along with a new indicator of ratings also comes greater detail for investment grade and high yield securities offering additionalEuropean credit spreads for telecom, energy, agency, and utility bonds.

More information is available at  www.barra.com  or by calling (888) 588-4567.

«