Q & A Database

The GIPS Standards Q&A database contains questions and answers (Q&As) on various searchable topics that provide additional interpretation on an issue. Q&As are considered to be authoritative guidance and must be followed in order to claim compliance with the GIPS standards.

Content from prior Q&As was included in the GIPS Standards Handbook as much as possible and many Q&As were archived. Change the Status drop-down filter to "Archived" to see the archived Q&As.

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Effective

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Archived

Effective: 31 August, 2017 - 31 December, 2019

Categories: Asset Owner

Source: GIPS Executive Committee

Should an insurance company follow the Guidance Statement on the Application of the GIPS Standards for Asset Owners or the general GIPS standards?

The Guidance Statement on the Application of the GIPS Standards does not apply if the insurance company has prospective clients and/or is competing for business in a commercial sense with other asset managers and asset owners. In this instance, the insurance company would have to adhere to the broader GIPS standards and initially bring 5 years of performance history into compliance. It is possible that an organization may act as both an asset owner – where investment authority and ownership are vested with the organization itself – as well as acting as an asset manager – where it is competing for assets whose vesting lies with external clients (e.g., pension plan, sovereign wealth fund, insurance company). In such situations, the part of the organization acting as an asset manager must be defined as a separate firm that initially brings 5 years of performance history into GIPS-compliance and adheres to the broader GIPS standards. The part of the organization acting as an asset owner may be defined as a separate firm and adhere to the Guidance Statement on the Application of the GIPS Standards to Asset Owners where it is possible to initially come into GIPS-compliance with a one year track record (building to 10 years).

If an organization is acting both as an asset owner and an asset manager and is offering investment in the same product to prospective clients that the asset owner is managing, the organization must consider itself to be an asset manager for the purposes of GIPS-compliance and present a 5-year track record when initially coming into compliance. In this instance, it would be difficult to separate into two GIPS firms, therefore the insurance company or organization would adhere to the existing guidance and requirements of the GIPS standards and must not present only a one-year track record when initially coming into compliance.