Products June 9, 2003

New Service Helps Manage Business of Risk

June 9, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A Toronto firm has unveiled a new service to help institutional investors manage downside investment risk.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

According to a company news release, RBC Global Services said its new BENCHMARK Risk Measurement product helps plan sponsors manage their fiduciary responsibility surrounding risk, to assess portfolio diversification, and fine-tune tactical allocations.

The BENCHMARK Risk Measurement service utilizes software developed by RiskMetrics Group to calculate value-at-risk (VaR) estimates for clients. The VaR estimates serve as a tool for:

comparing risk across asset classes and sectors
examining how even small changes in position weighting can affect portfolio (or funding) risk
measuring how completely eliminating a particular holding will affect risk, taking into account the “hidden” effects of natural hedging.

BENCHMARK’s cross-Canada team of regional consultants will provide local client support for Risk Measurement, along with other analytical services including portfolio returns, performance attribution, peer comparisons, manager style analysis and compliance monitoring.