Recent Media Coverage

The article reports on how Dresdner Kleinwort, one of the largest brokerage firms in the world, uses the Trade Idea Monitor (TIM) from youDevise Limited, to develop and distribute trade ideas as a premium service for its institutional clients. Recently, Dresdner integrated the TIM into its research portal “so we can post ideas that are more integrated with our other content,” said Colin Jowers, an operations director at Dresdner. “There are lots of interesting ways to blend content to get a 360-degree view on an instrument.” Integrating the TIM was handled completely internally by Dresdner’s staff. Mr. Jowers noted that while the trade idea platform was born in London, “it’s also picking up in North America and Asia.”

“Research: Trade Ideas catch on ” Euromoney - December 1 2007

The magazine reports on how trade ideas are becoming an increasingly important element of the brokerage service that buy-side clients are willing to pay for. "One of the things we see is that some buy-side firms are putting real money behind trade ideas in terms of where their commissions go," Simon Tizard, executive director of Trade Ideas Limited, is quoted saying. "Typically a hedge fund or asset manager using our system allocates as much as 25% of its commissions to trade ideas, while for some the figure is 100%, which suggests that they don’t value any other service from brokers." Buy-side institutions are also discovering the usefulness of youDevise’s Trade Idea Monitor in monitoring and quantifying the performance of their ideas. The Trade Idea Monitor can just as easily be used to assess the performance of their own teams, Euromoney observes.

“youDevise Set to Launch HIP 2.0 ” HedgeWorld News - November 6 2007

The article reports on how youDevise Ltd., a technology firm serving funds of hedge funds, plans to release Hedge Fund Information Provider 2.0, an online portfolio management system that will expand the solution's middle-office capabilities and extend functions into funds of funds' front offices. The objective of HIP 2.0 is to move the application to the next level of maturity in terms of the breadth of functionality it supports and usability it provides, says Richard Koppel, managing director of youDevise. HIP 2.0 expands the management, risk, compliance and cost control functions of the system's previous incarnation, while broadening the types of hedge fund investments and fund of funds structures supported. It also introduces a "portfolio manager dashboard," which provides fund of funds managers a one-page view of positions, performance, fund value and liquidity. Acccording to Mr. Koppel, HIP 2.0's capabilities will be in demand as funds of funds face demands for greater transparency and reporting from institutional investors. An Oct. 2006 study by the Bank of New York and law firm Casey, Quirk & Associates LLC, estimated that institutional assets will grow to 40% of total hedge fund assets under management by 2010.

“TowerGroup Study: Buy, Sell-Side Technology Demands Growing ” Securities Industry News - October 29 2007

A new TowerGroup research report identified youDevise’s Trade Idea Monitor as likely to benefit from a growing wave of buyside spending on research technology, according to an article in Securities Industry News. The study – “Is ‘Automated Research Technology’ the Way of the Future for the Investment Research Business” – concludes that the buyside increasingly will make investment decisions based on information initially mined, aggregated or filtered by technology. This will result in buyside annual spending on research technology doubling, from $586 million in 2007 to $1.1 billion in 2010. Dushyant Sahrawat, the research director of TowerGroup and author of the study, told SIN there are several market forces driving the trend. The buyside’s research needs have moved beyond what can be effectively managed with programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel or email. Hedge funds and traditional long-only asset managers see technology as a way to improve investment performance. Sellside firms increasingly are looking for new means for distributing research directly to clients who are most willing to pay for it. TowerGroup (www.towergroup.com), which has offices in North America and Europe, is a leading research and advisory services firm focused exclusively on the financial services industry.

“youDevise Battles Spreadsheets, Readies New HIP Solution ” Hedgeworld News - October 12 2007

The article reports on how youDevise Ltd., the leading on-demand portfolio workstation provider to financial markets, has declared war on spreadsheets used by the $1 trillion Fund of Hedge Funds industry. FOHFs have grown at such a rapid pace that they remain underserved by technology suppliers who haven't yet spent the time to study the needs of the industry and develop FOHF-specific solutions, says Rich Koppel, Managing Director of youDevise. Often it's only one person that develops and maintains a firm's spreadsheets, with no second pair of eyes to check for mistakes, which leaves the firm at risk for human error, or worse. When youDevise clients turn over their spreadsheets for evaluation, Mr. Koppel said his firm "finds errors without trying too hard, almost without exception.” In response, youDevise developed the Hedge Fund Information Provider (HIP), an online fund of hedge fund-specific portfolio management system designed to address management, risk, compliance and cost issues.

“FoHFs Beginning to See the Open Road with New Technology ” FINAlternatives - September 2007

This bylined article by two youDevise executives discusses the unique difficulties in managing Funds of Hedge Funds (FoHF). These include the need for FoHFs to not only track performance at the fund level, but also take into account investor share classes with intricate structures, different fee regimens, various currency denominations, hedge fund subscription lockup terms, notice periods, fee and settlement schedules, and gating. These difficulties are compounded by the fact that the industry relies upon unsophisticated tools, such as home grown spreadsheets, to track this data, leading to serious errors. The industry, however, has reached the point where awareness of the problem, technological advances, and demand from institutional investors are resulting in the deployment of modern FoHF portfolio management systems (FPMS), such as youDevise's online Hedge Fund Information Provider (HIP). As more FoHFs install FPMS, it will become easier to move to the next phase of FoHF technology -- electronic STP links between FoHFs, their administrators and banks, their investors, and the hedge funds in which they invest. This will enable data to be transmitted on an increasingly real time basis, someday perhaps rivaling the speed at which hedge funds themselves operate.

Read 'FoHFs find the open road' in full here

“Buy Side Begins Tracking Metrics On Sell-Side's Trading Ideas ” Wall Street & Technology - March 2007

The buy side is drowning in information, the feature article states, pointing out that much of it comes from the sell side in the form of research reports, e-mails, phone calls and invitations to meetings. And with regulatory scrutiny of how the buy side spends client assets to pay for research and executions, and the movement towards unbundling commissions, buy-side firms are struggling to place a value on sell-side research and services. youDevise's Trade Idea Monitor (TIM) is cited as an innovative new tool that investment managers are tapping to help find hidden sources of alpha and more objectively measure the value of the research, which helps in the broker-voting and commission allocation process.

“youDevise Enhances the HIP's Straight-Through Processing ” Hedgeworld News - 27 January 2007

News story reports that youDevise Ltd., the leading on-demand portfolio workstation provider to financial markets, increased the straight-through processing capabilities of its Hedge Fund Information Provider (“the HIP”), which services the $900 billion fund of hedge funds industry. The HIP web-based portfolio workstation now incorporates STP interfaces for accessing market data and improving interactive communication among funds of funds, hedge funds, administrators, banks and investors, says the article. Thus, use of STP in the HIP reduces manual and duplicate data entry, errors and settlement cycles, increases transparency and audit ability, and improves overall customer service. Rich Koppel, Managing Director of youDevise, is quoted as saying that the time has come for the $2.4 trillion funds of hedge funds industry to organize and establish standards for STP connection.

“Alpha capture networks cause a stir” Financial Week - 23 October 2006

Feature story states that electronic systems for measuring the value of brokers’ investment recommendations, such as youDevise’s Trade Idea Monitor (TIM), are attracting increasing attention within the financial services industry. Last month the FSA gave a clean bill of health to these products, dubbed “alpha capture systems,” saying that while it has no specific rules requiring equal treatment of clients in relation to the dissemination of ideas, it does require all clients to be treated fairly. The article looks at the proprietary format of hedge fund Marshall Wace’s TOPS system, which operates through a direct, one-on-one connection and pays brokers according to how well their trade ideas perform. It also examines the open, Repository and Distribution Center (RDC) network, an industry utility created by youDevise on behalf of the Trade Ideas Limited organization. One year after launch, the story states, more than 50 brokers and 50 fund managers in the US, Europe and Asia are connected to the RDC, allowing brokers to distribute trade ideas simultaneously to all their money manager clients. Reuters also gave its clients access to the RDC in April, the story notes, via its partnership with youDevise’s TIM. Colin Berthoud, Director of youDevise, is quoted explaining how clients particularly are drawn to the ability of the TIM and RDC to provide trade ideas to all their clients at the same time.

“Low Cost Compliance Technology Being Used to Implement New SEC and FSA Regulations Governing ‘Soft Dollars’” Journal of Investment Compliance -- Volume 6, Number 4 - July 2006

Feature article examines how relatively low-cost technologies are becoming widely accepted for helping institutional money managers and hedge funds comply with reforms to increase the transparency, documentation, and justification of using trading commissions (otherwise known as “soft dollars” in the US) to pay for value-added brokerage and research services. youDevise’s TIM is cited as a leading example of trade idea communication and management systems that capture and analyze quantitative information about equity trade ideas. Author Joseph Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading of Themis Trading LLC, a US-based institutional agency brokerage firm, notes that the TIM not only enforces soft dollar compliance, but also “automate[s] practices that were already in place, capturing lost value and generating increases in productivity for all involved.”

“RMB MultiManagers Gets 'HIP'” HedgeWeek - 30 June 2006

Feature article reports that RMB MultiManagers is using youDevise's Hedge Fund Information Provider (HIP) as the primary portfolio management platform for its funds of hedge funds business. London-based RMB, with USD 2.3 billion under management, is part of the FirstRand Group, one of the largest listed financial service companies in South Africa. According to the story, RMB will use the HIP to replace an in-house system based on linked spreadsheets and is also sponsoring the development of a new Leveraged Portfolios Module that will enable funds of hedge funds to track performance, interest, and other key components. Owain McNeill, Business Manager of Alternative Investments at youDevise is quoted, saying, “RMB has a well-known reputation for forward-thinking and innovation... Our partnership is helping to pioneer a whole shift in the funds of hedge funds industry, from informal spreadsheets to formal, systematized practices.” Robert Rhodes, Chief Operations Officer at RMB, adds, “We had spent considerable effort searching for a portfolio management system for our funds of hedge funds. The HIP gives us new power to stay on top of all the information related to our positions, in a way that is not possible using spreadsheets.”

“News and ‘Heat' Indicators Now Offered by youDevise” HedgeWorld - 21 June 2006

Officials at youDevise announced the addition to its Trade Idea Monitor (TIM) platform of news, information and "heat" indicators, provided by Relegence Corp., HedgeWorld reports. Colin Berthoud, director of youDevise, is quoted as saying that, “Through Relegence, the TIM is now able to offer equally fast access to news in a value-added format that helps users take further advantage of trading opportunities.” Relegence is offered as a premium add-on feature to the TIM and provides news and information from 20,000 global information services, according to the article. youDevise’s TIM was unveiled earlier this year in the United States and in the UK in 2005, the story states, before making it to Reuters 3000 Xtra terminals in April 2006. The web-based TIM service offers trading recommendations for institutional investors, hedge funds and proprietary trading desks, and also allows traders to track gains from specific trade ideas.

“Talk about a revolution” Portfolio International - 01 June 2006

Product review calls youDevise’s HIP portfolio management system for funds of hedge funds “very exciting” and “a development that is set to revolutionise the administration of a practically $700bn industry.” The review explains how the HIP "solves" critical management, risk, compliance and cost issues, particularly those resulting from over-reliance on error-prone spreadsheets, and reduces reliance on phone calls, faxes, emails, and multiple spreadsheet entries. “One small mistake in fast-moving investment markets could cause losses of millions in seconds,” according to the review. “So this is indeed a welcome and significant development.”

“Who Told You So” Trader Monthly – June/July 2006

Story in a leading lifestyle magazine for securities traders, highlights YouDevise’s TIM system for tracking “exactly who deserves credit, and how much,” for their trade ideas. The TIM leverages a global server hub to track the performance of all ideas, long and short, that a buy-side user receives, distilled on a single detailed screen, the article states. In March, youDevise added a new tool, “Themed Portfolios,” which enables brokers to send ideas for longs and shorts reflecting some broader strategy. The story concludes that the TIM provides “an exciting new way” to separate the wheat from the chaff .

“Developer Launches Hedge Fund System” Financial Times – 08 May 2006

Article by City Reporter Matthew Richards details the launch by London-based software developer youDevise of the first commercial portfolio management system for funds of hedge funds. According to the story, YouDevise developed the Hedge Fund Information Provider (HIP) product in collaboration with a team of funds of hedge funds led by Key Asset Management, which launched one of the first such funds in 1990 and has $1.2bn under management. The HIP is designed to replace the complex web of spreadsheets that funds use to measure and record asset values, liquidity, foreign currency exposure and other key variables, the article states. Owain McNeill, business manager of alternative investments at youDevise is quoted saying that all the funds of hedge funds they contacted complained that spreadsheets were inadequate for these purposes, and that studies have shown that more than 90% of audited spreadsheets contain errors.

“Key Sponsors FOF Technology” HedgeWorld News – 05 May 2006

Feature story by Senior Financial Correspondent Susan Barreto states that most funds of funds have found limitations in the use of spreadsheets to track management and portfolio data. Simon Ewart, COO and CFO of Key Asset Management, explains that his firm had been looking for a new system but couldn't find anything until meeting youDevise. Key became a main sponsor among a team of FoHFs that participated in the development of youDevise’s Hedge Fund Information Provider (HIP) platform. The system’s most prominent features, the story says, are price reconciliation and liquidity data that let managers calculate how much cash is on hand for meeting client withdrawals or investing in underlying hedge funds. Alan Hennebery, financial controller at Key, is quoted saying that FoHFs in the past looked at cash and performance data once per month, but that now investors are requesting weekly reports that traditionally have taken as many as 10 days to prepare. Owain McNeill, business manager at youDevise, is quoted explaining that the spreadsheet problem is compounded at many FoHFs, which are dependent on one or two people for developing and updating their spreadsheets.

“YouDevise Gets Hip to Spreadsheet Reduction” Wall Street & Technology Week – 04 May 2006

In an effort to eliminate the use of spreadsheets and better manage funds of hedge funds (FoHFs) youDevise has launched a portfolio management system dubbed The Hedge Fund Information Provider (the HIP), the story declares. The HIP solution introduces straight-through processing (STP) methods to the FoHF industry, which is estimated to account for $693 billion, or approximately one-third, of all hedge fund assets under management, according to the Barclay Group. Known for its use in stock transactions, the story states, STP will enable FoHFs and their administrators, as well as hedge funds, to exchange data electronically, reducing reliance on phone calls, faxes, emails, and multiple spreadsheet entries. Simon Ewart, COO and CFO of Key Asset Management, is quoted saying, “The HIP brings management of funds of hedge funds into the 21st century." The HIP is securely accessed using a standard Internet browser on an on-demand basis and supports FoHFs of all sizes and complexities. The underlying technology is the same as that employed by youDevise to build the Repository & Distribution Center (RDC) for Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Merrill Lynch.

“Research System Goes Live” Financial Times – 10 April 2006

Article by City Reporter Matthew Richards explains that efforts to increase the transparency and efficiency of brokers' trading recommendations received a boost when an youDevise’s electronic distribution system, the Trade Idea Monitor, was made available on Reuters terminals. According to the article, the agreement will allow for ideas to he distributed from sell-side brokers simultaneously to all buy-side clients using the Reuters' 3000 Xtra product. Peter Bennett, a product manager at Credit Suisse, is quoted saying that the introduction of the TIM to Reuters terminals increases its accessibility. He added that the TIM would make it quicker and easier for investors to act on the trade ideas, since they could now click through to relevant data on the same screen. Colin Berthoud, a director of youDevise, said the combination of Reuters and the TIM takes on added significance in light of new and proposed regulatory guidelines in the US and UK.

“Reuters To Distribute Trade Ideas Over Financial Terminals” Global Custody Review – 06 April 2006

Reuters announced it will distribute detailed trade ideas from sell-side brokers to buy-side customers via the Reuters 3000 Xtra product, the story reports. Reuters is the first vendor to use the Trade Idea Monitor system from youDevise Limited, enabling brokers to send equity trade ideas simultaneously to Reuters users globally, according to the article. Users of the trade ideas functionality in Reuters 3000 Xtra will be able to utilize Reuters' instant messaging service (Reuters Messaging), allowing the buy- and sell-side to instantly collaborate about trading ideas, and attain related stock price information, news, data and analytics. Buy-side customers in turn will be able to trade with their broker of choice on the Reuters order routing network, entering orders via Reuters Institutional Order Entry or Reuters Trading for Exchanges applications from within the 3000 Xtra terminal. Control features enable buy-side customers to select which sell-side firms can send them ideas and which kinds of ideas can be sent.

“Brokers Face Greater Scrutiny Over Advice” Financial Times – 06 February 2006

Article by City Reporter Matthew Richards discusses the US launch of the TIM and the RDC, focusing on increased benefits in transparency and fairness of brokers' trading recommendations. The move could help level the playing field between traditional fund managers and hedge funds managers who sometimes receive recommendations first, the story states. YouDevise’s TIM is cited as providing enhanced access to the RDC hub, including features such as analytical tools. Jonathan Boersma, a director of the CFA Institute, the global investment industry body, provided comment welcoming the initiative.

“Trade Ideas Network Launches in the U.S.” Hedge Fund World – 06 February 2006

An electronic network designed by youDevise, Ltd. and Trade Ideas Limited, a consortium of leading brokerages, has been launched in the U.S., the article states, following its successful launch in the UK in October 2005. The RDC and the TIM are cited as enabling brokers to send trade ideas to large numbers of clients simultaneously, and fund managers to track the performance of all the ideas they receive from various brokers on a single screen. Designed to appeal to a wide variety of financial institutions, in particular, research- and trading-driven hedge funds and proprietary trading desks, and the sell-side firms that cater to these clients, the system can more clearly demonstrate how asset managers spend their clients’ commission dollars. Chris Driscoll of Credit Suisse, speaking on behalf of Trade Ideas Limited, cites that the purpose of the RDC is to create one open, common, efficient hub that every sell- and buy-side firm can access. The volume of trade ideas transmitted through the RDC in the first months of its availability in the UK has covered several thousand stocks on more than 100 exchanges, he explains.

“Consortium Unveils Trade Idea Forum in U.S.” HedgeWorld News – 02 February 2006

Story by Senior Financial Correspondent Susan Barreto highlights the U.S. launch of the Repository & Distribution Center (RDC) and the Trade Idea Monitor (TIM). Of particular note, Barreto explains, is the fact that the TIM is a free service to buy-side firms, such as hedge funds, that are able to glean trade ideas from sell-side brokerage firms that previously distributed trading recommendations via multiple systems. Furthermore, one of the traits of the Web-based service is that managers can actually track their gains from specific trade ideas and screen ideas by a specific broker or analyst. The article also notes the timely introduction of the TIM, given new and proposed regulatory guidelines in the United States and the United Kingdom that are calling for increased documentation of research and other soft-dollar services.

“Securities Giants Join for New Trade Ideas Distribution Platform” Banking Technology – 31 October 2005

Four of the largest securities traders, Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Merrill Lynch have formed a new company, Trade Ideas Limited, jointly owned by the four, to launch an industry utility for the distribution of trade ideas, the article states. The platform, www.tradeideas.org, provides what is described as a coordinated approach to trade idea distribution, including the launch of a Repository and Distribution Centre, that enables clients such as asset managers, alternative investment firms and proprietary trading desks at investment banks to access trading ideas from different brokers with whom they have a relationship. Trade Ideas has commissioned and licensed software from youDevise, called the Trade Idea Monitor (TIM), as the basis of the service, as well as responsibility for the RDC operation.

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