Strategic Asset Alliance – Investment Manager Questionnaire
I. Background Information
Firm Name:
Year of Organization:
Total Number of Employees:
Total Number of Investment Professionals:
Address:
Telephone:
Fax Number:
Contact for Questionnaire:
Telephone:
Email:
Insurance Client Contact:
Telephone:
Email:
A. Firm ownership and any changes within the past five years: (please indicate majority owner of the
investment firm);
 Organizational structure : Public, Private, Subsidiary of another firm
 % Held by: (Employee Ownership, Firm Name)
 Managed by (Firm Name, NA)
 Changes within last 5 years:
 If employee ownership is part of your structure, how does an employee become an owner?
B. Insurance company affiliations: (please indicate any direct or indirect affiliations with an insurance
company)
 Direct, Indirect
C. Registration Status with the SEC. Please provide a copy of your most recent full form ADV, if available.
 Registered, Not Registered, In Process
 ADV attached? (Yes, No)
D. Please list the number of individuals in the following positions:
 Portfolio Manager:
 Corporate Credit Analyst:
 Structured Credit Analyst:
 Municipal Credit Analyst:
 Government/Agency Analyst:
 Corporate Trader:
 Structured/Securitized Trader:
 Municipal Trader:
 Government/Agency Trader:
 Other Analyst (i.e. Risk not including compliance):
E. List Key Investment Professionals: Title, Areas of Responsibility, Professional Designations, Years of
Experience with your firm, Years of Experience overall, etc.
 Name
 Title (President, Vice-President, Director, Portfolio Manager, Other)
 Areas of Responsibility
 Professional Designations (CFA, CAIA, CPA, Other)
 Years of Experience with your firm (0-5, 5-10,10-15,15+)
 Years of Experience in investment field overall (0-5, 5-10, 10-15, 15+)
F. List Key Marketing/Client Service Professionals: Title, Areas of Responsibility, Professional Designations,
Years of Experience with your firm, Years of Experience working with insurers and overall and provide an
overall organizational chart.
 Name
 Title (President, Vice-President, Director, Portfolio Manager, Other)
 Areas of Responsibility (Client Service, Business Development, Research. Other)
 Professional Designations (CFA, CAIA, CPA, Other)
 Years of Experience with your firm (0-5, 5-10,10-15,15+)
 Years of Experience overall (0-5, 5-10, 10-15, 15+)
G. Please provide information regarding the number of relationships covered by client service professionals at the
firm.
H. Please provide Information on any changes to personnel within the investment team or key personnel within the
organization over the past five years
 Key Personnel Name
 Title Designation (President, Vice President, Portfolio Manager, Other)
 Year Departed/Retired (2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010)
I. How are members of the investment team, client service and marketing team compensated?
J. Has your firm, parent, or subsidiary, or any officer or principal of the organization been involved in litigation
relating to the management of investment assets and/or compliance violations within the last seven (7) years?
Yes/No – If Yes Explain.
K. Is there any pending litigation? Yes/No; If yes, please provide a brief explanation and indicate the current status
of the proceedings or disposition.
L. In the past five years, has your organization or any members of your organization been involved in an Attorney
General or SEC investigations? Yes/No. If yes, please describe in full including resolution.

M. Please provide levels of coverage for fidelity bonds, errors and omission coverage, officers and directors, and
other fiduciary coverage that the firm carries; including the names and addresses of the coverage provider.
 Fidelity Bonds (Name, $$, Address)
 E&O (Name, $$, Address)
 Officers and Directors (Name, $$, Address)
 Other Fiduciary Coverage (Name, $$, Address)
N. Does your firm have a code of ethics? Yes/No : If Yes, please provide a copy
O. Please provide the name of your trade order management system vendor
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II. Assets Under Management - By client category & strategy
Please list your broad strategy composite AUM:
Total AUM at quarter ending: ________
# Clients
Assets ($millions)
Total Assets Under Management:
Total Fixed Income Assets Under Management:
A. Average Client Account Size
B. Median Client Account Size
Affiliated:
# of Accounts
General insurance accounts
Separate insurance accounts
Insurance co. variable accounts
Unaffiliated:
General insurance accounts
Separate insurance accounts
Insurance co. variable accounts
Governmental Risk Pools/Associations
Bank/other financial institutions
Corporations
Foundations, Endowments, and Associations
Commingled funds
Limited partnerships
Mutual funds
Individuals & Other
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$ Value of Accounts
III. Historical development of insurance asset business (general accounts only):
Date
12/14
12/13
12/12
12/11
12/10
Assets managed
Govt. Risk Pools P&C
Life& Health
Number of clients
Govt. Risk Pools P&C
Life & Health
General account assets under management for three largest P&C, Health, and Risk Pooling accounts:
Account Number or Designator
G/A Assets
1.
2.
3.
Please provide the number of clients in each AUM category as follows:




<$100mm
$100mm to $500mm
$500mm to $1B
>$1B
Please provide the following for each insurance segment above (Government Risk Pool, P&C, Life/Heath):
 Clients gained (# and $) and lost in the last 12 months
 Average size of client in each category
 Median size of client in each category
 IV. Administration
A. Please provide your standard fee schedule for insurance company general accounts. Are fees
negotiable? Yes/No
B. Are you paid commissions or fees when investments are purchased for client portfolios? Yes/No. If so,
please explain how are these commissions/fees handled and accounted for.
C. Are you paid trailer fees on any investments after a period of time? If, so how are these fees handled and
accounted for?
 Yes, No)
 Explanation>
D. Does your firm provide the following services, please indicate if any additional fee is incurred for these
services and approximate amount:
Service
Service
Offered?
Schedule D investment accounting
Yes/No
Asset/liability management (dynamic Yes/No
financial analysis)
Performance attribution
Yes/No
Daily internet access of portfolio Yes/No
information
SVO filing
Yes/No
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Approximate
Fee
Please indicate how investment accounting services are provided (i.e. through an outsourced relationship
with a vendor, internally by a team on a licenses investment accounting platform etc.)
 (Outsourced relationship w/ vendor, internally by team, other)
E. Does your firm have in house insurance investment accounting and regulatory experts who are well
versed on GAAP and Statutory accounting issues?
F. Identify the investment accounting system that is utilized.
 (CAMRA, PAM, Aladdin, Eagle Pace, Advent Geneva, Other)
G. Please provide a copy of your Firm’s SSAE 16 Internal Control Report. If one is not provided, please
explain why your Firm has not performed a SSAE 16 evaluation.
 SSAE 16 Attached? (Yes, No)
 If no…
H. Describe your firm’s philosophy for communicating with clients and client’s Boards of Directors.
a. Frequency
b. Content
c. Please provide a sample, standard investment reporting package, including a performance
attribution report for fixed income.
d. Describe Staff & Board educational opportunities your firm offers to clients.
F. Identify the automated compliance system(s) and describe the frequency and scope of compliance
monitoring processes used to ensure compliance with an insurer’s objectives and guidelines.
 Compliance System (Charles River Development, Aladdin, Bloomberg PTS, Fidessa’s
LatentZero Capstone Suite, Sentinel, Other)
 Frequency (
 Scope of compliance monitoring processes
a. How does your firm confirm that insurance accounts are in compliance with the appropriate state
insurance laws and company mandated guidelines?
G. Describe the firm’s Internet-based, portfolio access and reporting capabilities and the security processes
in place for such access. Is electronic access to holdings and valuations available daily?
 Internet (Partial Reports, Full Reports, Modeling/Testing Capability, No Access)
 Frequency of Updates (Quarterly, Monthly, Daily, NA)
V. Performance Interrogatories:
A. Please provide composite returns for your firm’s core and intermediate core fixed income mandates. Any
composite provided should only contain investment-grade portfolios.
a. List quarterly rates of return for the last ten years, or a shorter period if ten year history is
unavailable.
 If these returns are available in the PSN database, please advise and provide the composite
name.
b. Are performance numbers in compliance with GIPS standards? GIPS certified? If not, please
explain.
c. Performance: For your core portfolios (duration between 3 and 7 years), please provide a
consolidated composite return and the consolidated weighted average benchmark returns for
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portfolios’ benchmarks for the trailing quarter, YTD, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 5 year, 7 year, 10 year
periods.
B. Performance attribution: historically when your model portfolio over or (under) performs its benchmark,
what have been the principal causes of the over (under) performance and how much of the over (under)
performance do you attribute to these causes?
a. What performance attribution system does your firm deploy? Internal or Third Party?
b. Please provide performance attribution for the following periods (YTD, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 5
year, 7 year, 10 year and since inception) under the following breakdown if possible: Duration, yield
curve, sector allocation, security selection
c. Please provide an anticipated break down of excess return going forward (e.g. 50% from sector
allocation, 20% from duration etc.
C. To complement the standard return composites, please provide returns for a comparable client’s fixed
income portfolio (if applicable).
1. General Information:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Started managing account Investment Objective Investment Constraints Performance Benchmark Portfolio manager(s) assigned to account Predominant Sectors (e.g. equities, municipals, corporates, mortgage backed securities,
government bonds, foreign fixed-income, etc.)
a. List quarterly rates of return for the last ten years, or a shorter period if ten year history is
unavailable.
b. Are performance numbers in compliance with GIPS standards? GIPS certified? If not, please
explain.
VI. Investment Process, Risk Management & Client Service
Investment Management Process:
A. Describe your organizations investment strategy decision-making process and the approach used to
implement the strategy decisions in the management of fixed income accounts.
 Is your process top down/bottom up or a combination?
 Are portfolios managed by specific individuals or by a team?
 If by a team, how are decisions made? What if there is disagreement among team members?
 How many credits/issues do analysts cover in both the corporate and securitized space? Are
coverage assignments changed over time? Is research a career path or a stepping stone to portfolio
management?
 Provide a summary of how a portfolio is invested after funding.
 Has your philosophy and/or process changed over time?
B. How, if at all, does the management of accounts that follow your organization’s model or core strategy
differ from your organization’s management of constrained insurer general accounts?
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C. Describe your investment management style on the total return/book income spectrum. What will your firm
do to balance total return and book income?
D. For your firm’s core insurance composite or representative insurance core account, please provide quarterly
portfolio characteristics for the past 5 years. These characteristics should include at a minimum; yield to
maturity, OAD, OAS, OAC, overall quality, sector distribution and breakdown of the portfolio by ratings.
The sector distribution should break down the portfolio to the level below corporates (i.e. finance, industrial,
utility etc.) and similar breakdown for securitized sectors.
E. For your firm’s core insurance composite, please provide the most recent quarter end holdings in excel.
F. The past six years 2008 through 2013 period has been extremely challenging for all investors especially so
for fixed income investors. How do events during this period continue to affect your organization and what
changes if any have been made to your organization’s:





Strategic decision making processes?
View of certain types of investment structures, such as mortgages, all forms of structured
products, U.S. and non-U.S. sovereign-debt?
Counterparty risk?
Duration decisions?
Measurement/management of security and overall portfolio liquidity
Risk Management Process:
A. Describe your firm’s risk management process, including its organizational structure, the reporting
relationship within the firm, and the processes employed to evaluate the risks present in portfolios as market
conditions change.
B. Is there a risk management function that is independent of the CIO that reports into the CEO or another
officer not linked to the investment decisions? When an issue is flagged by Risk Management, what is the
process for resolving the issue?
C. How does the firm judge the tradeoff between the various risks taken and the potential returns received?
Does this judgment change when the account is an insurance company general account?
D. Describe the primary analytical tools used to quantify and manage investment risk.
E. Describe your credit analysis process. Include the names and roles of professionals involved in credit analysis.
Client Service & Staff Capability:
A. Does your firm have a separate service delivery structure for the insurance clients?
a. If so, what are the major components of the insurance service structure? If not, how does your firm
respond to the unique service and investment needs of an insurance organization?
b. Who are the leaders of your insurance investment management practice and what is there
experience?
c. What are your organization’s insurance asset management strengths versus your competitors?
d. Do you have a relationship with an accounting agent that specializes in insurance portfolios? If so,
who and do you know what accounting system they use?
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B. Does your organization offer a “model” fixed-income portfolio for insurance companies that takes into the
consideration the unique regulatory and cash flow needs of an insurance company? If so how does it differ
from your organizations unconstrained model portfolio?
C. Please describe the service team, including resumes for each, that XYZ would be assigned if we were to
employ your firm and how would the daily interaction between XYZ your organization be handled? For
example:
a. When we have a question who would we call?
b. At year end when we are determining OTTI with whom would we interact?
Competitive Advantage
A. What in your opinion distinguishes your firm from other firms engaged in providing similar investment
management services for insurance/risk pooling organizations?
B. What is your value added proposition?
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