“This is not designed to replace what managers’ report to their clients, I understand it is not going to tell the whole picture for a lot of hedge funds. It is more about how can I look at my total portfolio in the most sensible way,” she says.

The template does not change to take into account different strategies. Questions are focused on a range of general areas including counterparty weights, geographical allocations, equity and credit allocations, and liquidity disclosure.

A unique aspect of the open-protocol reporting framework is that it still allows aggregation, despite the various disclosure standards of the underlying hedge fund managers.

Managers can choose three levels of disclosure, with the first being summarised information and the third level providing the most detailed, granular information.

Misic is a speaker at Conexus Financial’s upcoming Sixth Annual Alternatives Conference at Melbourne’s Park Hyatt from September 5 to 6. The session will examine the developments in hedge fund reporting and risk analytics and includes a panel discussion with MSCI executive director HeongWee Chong. Other keynote speakers include the Future Fund’s chief investment officer David Neal, discussing the fund’s innovative hedge fund strategy, and Debra Ng, a partner at Albourne Partners, who will look at how investors around the world are using hedge funds. Conexus Financial is the publisher of Investment Magazine Online.