The CFA Institute recently announced the creation of a working group to develop universal GIPS® standards for OCIOs. Verger is pleased to share that Tricia Walker, our Investment Reporting Manager, has been chosen to be a part of this select committee. We believe Tricia and the working group will have a positive impact on the industry by delivering transparency within the OCIO space.
Under the supervision of the GIPS Standards Technical Committee, this newly formed team will work to determine the most meaningful way to present investment performance. While the complete list of members has not yet been publicized, we are proud that Tricia is among them. She shares that, "while Verger has been GIPS® compliant since 2020, having GIPS® standards specific to OCIOs will be incredibly meaningful to investors by standardizing performance comparisons within the industry. "
In 2020, Verger announced compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®). This initiative was led by Tricia who brings her familiarity with the process and understanding of performance reporting to the working group. Appreciating that GIPS® compliance is recognized globally as the standard for industry best practices for investment performance reporting and presentation, we are proud that Verger has received firm-wide verification from its inception to date through the Performance Division of ACA Group.
Brad Alford, founder of Alpha Capital Management and member of the CFA Working Group, agrees with the importance of these standards, sharing in the recent FundFire article, "We do searches, we ask for performance, [and] we just get very cherry-picked numbers, we just can't believe a lot of them. [In] the next two years, if you're not GIPS® compliant, we might not even have you in a search." As part of the fifteen-member CFA team, Brad and Tricia will participate in monthly conference calls to create a consultation paper to be released in early 2023.
We agree that standardization among OCIOs is important and that compliance with GIPS® is an essential piece. Jim Dunn, Verger’s CEO & CIO, shares, "Currently it's like apples to oranges when comparing different firms, so having everyone share the same performance requirements and best practices will be positive for our clients and prospective clients when comparing OCIOs.” Jim continues, “We are proud of Tricia’s leadership and for volunteering her time to the CFA and furthering trust and transparency in the industry."