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Stefan Illmer of Credit Suisse Elected as First Chair of GIPS Executive Committee
Illmer will serve first term as awareness and use of the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®) continues to grow.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., January 4, 2007 – The nine-member GIPS Executive Committee (EC) (PDF), the decision-making body for the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®), announced today that it has elected Dr. Stefan J. Illmer, head of client reporting for Credit Suisse in Switzerland, as its first chair.
Illmer is widely respected as an expert on investment performance measurement. In addition to writing several publications on and speaking about performance measurement, attribution, and standards, he has also been an active participant in the development and implementation of the GIPS standards since 1999. Illmer is also chair of the Europe, Middle East, Africa Regional Investment Performance Subcommittee (EMEA RIPS) and served as the chair of its predecessor subcommittee, the European Investment Performance Council (EIPC).
The EC also announced that Sunette Mulder, a senior performance analyst at Coronation Fund Managers in Cape Town, South Africa, was elected as its first chair-elect. Mulder is responsible for the firm’s performance measurement, attribution, and reporting practices. She is also the chair of the GIPS Committee of the South African country sponsor, the Investment Manager Association of South Africa, and serves on the EC as chair of the Investment Manager Subcommittee.
The Executive Committee (PDF) promotes the adoption and implementation of a single investment performance presentation standard – GIPS – throughout the world as the common method for calculating and presenting investment performance. The EC serves as the effective decision-making body of the GIPS standards and replaces the former Investment Performance Council.
Illmer’s and Mulder’s term as chair and chair-elect, respectively, will continue through August 31, 2008.
“The creation of the GIPS Executive Committee marks an important milestone in the development and promulgation of the GIPS standards globally,” said Illmer. “As we move into the 2010 comprehensive review of the GIPS standards, the organization is well suited to serve the interests of investors worldwide.”
The GIPS standards are a set of ethical principles that establish a standardized, industry-wide approach to how investment firms should calculate and report their investment results to prospective clients. The GIPS standards were based on and preceded in North America by the AIMR-PPS standards, which became the U.S. and Canadian version of GIPS in 2001. AIMR-PPS converged with the GIPS standards on January 1, 2006.
“The GIPS standards are increasingly recognized as the standard to be used by investment managers for quantifying and presenting fair and transparent disclosure and comparisons,” said Mulder. “I look forward to helping Stefan continue the success of the Executive Committee and to widening the awareness and use of the standards. In the end, adherence to the GIPS standards is in all investors’ best interests.”
At its December 1, 2006 meeting, the EC also issued the Performance Examination Guidance Statement, which ensures consistency of the procedures that are to be followed when a firm chooses to have a performance examination conducted on one or more of its composites. This is the first guidance statement approved by the EC under the new governance structure.
Other ongoing EC projects include:
- “GIPS 2010 standards” – a comprehensive review and expansion of the Standards to meet the compliance needs of investment management firms and investors.
- Continuing to review the Portfolio Recordkeeping, Error Correction, and Leverage and Derivatives guidance statements. The EC expects to approve Portfolio Recordkeeping and Error Correction at its March 2007 meeting in South Africa.
“I am pleased that two professionals with such commitment to and experience with the GIPS standards have assumed these new leadership roles,” said Raymond J. DeAngelo, acting director of the GIPS Secretariat and a managing director of CFA Institute, the founding and lead sponsor of the GIPS standards. “There are many exciting months ahead for the Executive Committee. Stefan and Sunette are well equipped to guide the EC towards its primary goal of updated standards by in 2010.”
GIPS Executive Committee:
The purpose of the nine-member Executive Committee (EC) is to promote the adoption and implementation of a single investment performance presentation standard – the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®) – throughout the world as the common method for calculating and presenting investment performance. The EC serves as the effective decision-making authority for the GIPS standards and replaces the former Investment Performance Council (IPC).
CFA Institute and the CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity:
CFA Institute is the global, non-profit professional association that administers the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) curriculum and examination program worldwide, publishes research, conducts professional-development programs, and sets voluntary, ethics-based professional and performance-reporting standards for the investment industry. CFA Institute has more than 86,000 members in 130 countries and territories. More information may be found at www.cfainstitute.org. (Bloomberg users can find CFA Institute at 497458Z).