Deutsche could scarcely have timed it better. On the very day that Merrill Lynch Investment Management decided to settle its legal dispute with the Unilever pension fund over its investment performance in the late 1990s, Deutsche subsidiary WM Company launched an upgraded, all-colour version of its performance measurement tool for pension fund trustees. The newly named WM Performance Analysis Service provides more in-depth long term analysis of benchmarks, peer groups and relative attribution.
“With this new product we are giving trustees a lot more information with which to carry out their fiduciary duties,” says Colin Wood, head of Performance Measurement at the WM Company in Edinburgh. “They can get from our product a clearer view of what their peers and also the wider marketplace is doing. This product together with one of our range of complementary risk products will provide trustees with a greater level of comfort in looking after their members’ assets.”
WM Performance Analysis Service will be distributed in hardcopy but will shortly be available via a Internet-delivered alternative. “With other products we have seen low conversion rates from hard copy to electronic versions,” says Wood. “An Internet option will be available, but it will not be the only distribution channel.” The WM Company currently has nearly 600 clients who will benefit from this product upgrade. The new product is being priced at a similar level to its predecessor. “Recent internal efficiencies have allowed us to give our clients more for the same price,” says Wood. However WM can be expected to take the opportunity to win new clients with this product to help generate additional revenue. Deutsche Bank Global Securities Services division is clearly hoping that the improved product will increase the appeal of its offering too.