For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.
Products May 19, 2015
Wilshire Associates Launches Indexing Solution
Wilshire Associates announced the launch of the “Powered by Wilshire” solution, allowing investment advisers and managers to merge their own index methodology with Wilshire’s index calculation engine and distribution platform.
Reported by PLANADVISER staff
The new offering provides an independent, third-party implemented solution that delivers historical index data to support marketing efforts as well as ongoing calculations, the firm says.
Wilshire points to lasting effects of the 2008 financial crisis to explain demand for this type of solution.
“Investment managers are faced with increased fee pressure, an increased need for due diligence and the continued search for alpha,” the firm notes. “Aligning with Wilshire allows managers to leverage more than four decades of index experience, as well as enhance the credibility of performance metrics for investment products as stated versus an index.”
Dennis Tito, founder and CEO of Wilshire Associates, says the new service should help investors more accurately measure performance for a host of investment vehicles.
ABR Dynamic Funds LLC, which creates indices and liquid alternative products, will be the first to use Wilshire’s solution to “power” its new ABR Dynamic Blend Equity & Volatility Index. A subsidiary of ABR Management LLC, the firm is using the Powered by Wilshire index platform to create an index with a dynamic blend of the S&P 500 index futures, as well as CBOE VIX futures, which will generally track the U.S. equity markets in bull markets and also have a VIX component that will generally strive to outperform in bear markets.
More information on the Powered by Wilshire solution is here.