Following a host of portals and fund companies that have launched "transparency" modules over the past two years, Goldman Sachs has joined the trend, launching a new module for monitoring money fund portfolio holdings. A press release entitled, "Goldman Sachs Asset Management Continues Commitment to Money Market Fund Transparency With Launch of Risk Management Platform," and subtitled, "Transparency Insight Tool Presents Liquidity Portfolios' Risk Exposure Through The Lens Of GSAM's Portfolio Managers," explains, "Potential regulations and shifting markets have prompted investors to seek a deeper understanding of money market funds' underlying holdings and associated risks from countries, issuers and asset classes. To help investors evaluate their current and potential liquidity investments, Goldman Sachs Asset Management ("GSAM") today announced the launch of Transparency Insight, an innovative risk management tool for liquidity portfolios. Transparency Insight combines data-rich views of fund holdings with industry-leading analytics that allow investors to consider their risk exposure the same way as GSAM's money market fund portfolio managers."
James McNamara, Managing Director and President of Goldman Sachs Mutual Funds, comments, "Corporate treasury departments are getting smaller. At the same time, regulatory changes and dynamic market conditions are fueling demand for greater transparency in liquidity products. As a leading provider of liquidity solutions, GSAM has been able to apply its insights from more than 30 years of managing risk in money market portfolios to create an intuitive risk management tool that helps treasury departments better understand their exposure in money market fund portfolios."
The press release explains, "Transparency Insight's key features include: Portfolio insights and analytics presented through the lens of GSAM's money market fund portfolio managers; Ability to perform side-by-side comparison of secured and unsecured risk in funds to inform investment decisions; Standardized asset classifications, issuer names and country exposures to ensure a consistent view of all securities across a portfolio, with data provided by iMoneyNet, a leader in money market fund information; and, Dashboard-style reporting of direct and indirect country, direct issuer and sponsor exposures for individual GSAM and third party funds and across global portfolios."
Kathleen Hughes, Managing Director and Head of the Global Liquidity Sales team, adds, "We aim to be an extension of our client's treasury teams by offering tools, access to research and best practices to help our clients increase operational efficiency and manage risk. Transparency Insight incorporates our brightest insights and deepest expertise to provide an unprecedented level of transparency into liquidity portfolios."
The release also adds, "Transparency Insight is available as a standalone risk assessment tool as well as through the Goldman Sachs Global Liquidity Services Portal, which delivers streamlined liquidity management capabilities, broad investment opportunities and comprehensive tools and resources for trading, reporting, and researching needs. Goldman Sachs Asset Management is the asset management arm of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), which oversees $991 billion in assets under supervision as of September 30, 2013." Goldman Sachs is the 8th largest manager of money funds with over $126 billion according to our monthly Money Fund Intelligence XLS.
