Reading 2-III: Standards of Professional Conduct & Guida 2010, manager, center, making, style

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Session 1: Ethical and Professional Standards
Reading 2-III: Standards of Professional Conduct & Guidance: Duties to Clients and Prospective Clients

LOS D.: Performance Presentation.

 

 

 

Paul Salyer,a portfolio manager, is making a presentation to a prospective client. Paul says that as a new portfolio manager, he made an average annual rate of return of 50% in the last two years at his previous firm and that based on this, he can guarantee a 50% return to the client. Which of the following statements is in accordance with Standard III(D), Performance Presentation?

A) Implying that he can guarantee a return.

B) Stating his past performance as long as it is fact.

C) Imputing his past performance to future performance.

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There is no evidence that he’s lying about his past performance. He is in violation for implying that he can guarantee performance, for using short-term performance, and for imputing the manager’s past performance to future performance.

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c

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A money manager, who is a member of CFA Institute, suggests during phone calls to his clients that, “I hope you will relay to your friends the great returns I earned for you this past year.” The manager had generated above average returns in the past year. Is this a violation of Standard III(D), Performance Presentation?

A) Yes, because the Standard forbids members asking their clients to say anything about how well the member has done.

B) Not if it is true.

C) Yes, because the intended message fails the test of completeness as required under the standard.

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Standard III(D) requires that members communicate performance in a fair, accurate, and complete fashion, and covers both written and oral communication. Asking someone to advertise only one year’s performance is unlikely to be representative since this constitutes a timeframe that is too short.

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While it would be customary to report both five-year and ten-year performance data, Seminole Equity Partners has been in existence for only eight years. Because of this, Kurt Dambach does not report ten-year data but reports for both five years and since the inception of the fund. This he notes in a footnote at the bottom of the information sheet. This action is:

A) a violation of the Standard concerning prohibition against misrepresentation.

B) in accordance with the Code and Standards since he has indicated the basis in a footnote.

C) a violation of the Standard concerning performance presentation.

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Members who communicate performance information must ensure that the information is fair, accurate, and complete. Seminole Equity’s presentation meets this standard.

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A money management firm has created a new junk-bond fund. When the firm advertised the new fund at its issuance, they used care to accurately compute the returns from the past 10 years for all assets in the fund. The firm used the current portfolio weights to determine an average annual historical return equal to 18% and claim an 18% annual historical return in their advertising literature. With respect to Standard III(D), Performance Presentation, this is:

A) a violation because the advertisement implies the firm generated this return.

B) in compliance.

C) a violation because the Standard prohibits computing historical returns on risky assets like junk bonds.

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Reporting the historical returns of all assets now in the fund introduces a survivorship bias. Also, the advertisement is misleading because the fund just came into existence and has no historical record. Thus, the firm has misled the public as to their performance history.

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A money manager is meeting with a prospect. She gives the client a list of stocks and says, “These are the winners I picked this past year for my clients. Their double-digit returns indicate the type of returns I can earn for you.” The list includes stocks the manager had picked for her clients, and each stock has listed with it an accurately measured return that exceeds 10%. Is this a violation of Standard III(D), Performance Presentation?

A) No, because the manager had the historical information in writing.

B) Yes, because the manager cannot reveal historical returns of recent stock picks.

C) Yes, unless the positions listed constitute a complete presentation (i.e., there were no stocks omitted that did not perform in the double digits).

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Standard III(D) requires fair representations concerning past and potential future performance. Unless the list of the “winners” includes all the positions that the firm held, the manager is misrepresenting past performance. The following statement is questionable: “Their double-digit returns indicate the type of returns I can earn for you,” but the action of submitting a partial list is clearly a violation. The manager should have information on past performance in writing.