Deutsche Bank’s Performance Analytics group, part of the Bank’s Global Securities Services unit, has determined that first quarter returns for US small cap value portfolios in the ICC Universe outperformed US large cap growth portfolios by 13.08%. Within domestic equity mandates, small cap value portfolios achieved the highest median return of 10.12% for the quarter, large cap value achieved a median return of 4.00%, small cap growth achieved a median return of -2.88%, and large cap growth, the worst performing style, achieved a median return of -2.96%.
Frances Barney, Managing Director of Deutsche Bank’s Performance Analytics Group, said, “US defined benefit pension funds maintain a low allocation on average to small cap equities. For example, US corporate defined benefit plans allocated an average of only 16% of their total domestic equity commitment to small cap.”
These returns are based on the institutional account data within the Independent Consultants Cooperative portfolio return and holdings database, the ICC Universe. Deutsche Bank includes its trust and custody portfolios in the ICC Universe and administers the service.
The ICC Universe includes over 13,900 portfolios, in all asset classes, with an aggregate market value of $675 billion. The portfolios are owned by approximately 1,300 plan sponsors. Sixteen consulting firms belong to the ICC.
“In addition to standard universes, clients can access plan allocation within the ICC Universe using the screening flexibility of our recently launched custom universe functionality.
Users can establish universe filters based on their unique combination of criteria, such as plan type, time frames, portfolio characteristics, or benchmark hurdles. Also, our recently launched graphics capability helps the user visualize the story within the data. The ICC Universe is accessible through our interactive web-based platform called db perform, and is now available to investment managers in addition to institutional clients,” said Barney.