Fundsource to update research tool
[UPDATED] Fundsource has announced it is partnering with Financial Express (FE) to provide a new product for advisers to compare managed funds.
Monday, April 20th 2015, 6:00AM 
1 Comment
by Susan Edmunds
The NZX-owned research house supplies data primarily to financial advisers and wholesale clients.
Fundsource head Sam Stanley has previously told Good Returns the new fund analytics tool will be available from $500 per year, depending on the size of an adviser's business.
From June 2015, FE will start collecting fund performance data on behalf of FundSource.
Fundsource said the partnership with FE would result in improved data analytics clients, while providing access to global fund data as well as better access to FundSource’s comprehensive historical database.
Following a review of the FundSource offering, NZX has decided to discontinue the qualitative research and editorial components of the services that FundSource currently provides.
From the end of May, it will no longer provide qualitative research in-house via FundSource. FundSource is in contact with clients who currently receive qualitative research to discuss these changes.
Stanley said advisers would see an improvement.
“We’re replacing the Investment Viewer product that advisers use to compare funds. Our database will be feeding FE’s tool, which is much better.”
Financial Express operates through Europe and Asia Pacific providing investment data, software tools and performance analysis.
Fundsource's Investment Viewer covers 700 funds and includes weekly fund prices, monthly performance statistics, fund profiles with performance graphs and asset allocation, quantitative and qualitative ratings and quarterly investment strategy reports.
But adviser Robert Oddy said advisers were under-served for research in New Zealand.
Lonsec and Van Eyk have both left the market over recent years.
He said Fundsource’s research was not update frequently enough.
He said neither Fundsource nor Morningstar offered a clear list with their research of the potential risks of using a particular company’s shares, fund, or ETF, and balancing that with the positive aspects.
“That is fairly surprising given 30-odd years ago Merrill Lynch did just that on everything they provided in terms of research.”
Stanley said the Fundsource research was designed at a level for AFAs to interpret, not to be readily accessible to retail clients.
Morningstar said its reports included detailed commentary on funds’ people, process, parent, price, and performance. “This includes discussion of the key risks our analysts consider readers need to be aware of in each area.”
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The bigger issue is the absence of robust & reliable asset allocation / portfolio construction advice. The stuff that currently exists for NZ subscribers is often skewed, or reliant on one-dimensional modelling.
I’m aware that a number of reliable asset allocation models are coming to NZ, which would be of greater value in portfolio construction than another research report.