The in-house investment manager for the UK’s £66bn (€73.5bn) Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has adopted a digital platform designed to streamline fund due diligence processes.
DiligenceVault, the technology USS has chosen, enables asset managers, asset owners and others to exchange qualitative and quantitative data in a structured format on a centralised cloud-based platform.
Howard Brindle, deputy CEO of USS Investment Management, said: “As we’re ensuring all of our processes across the firm are best-in-class, we knew we wanted to leverage technology to help us do that for all things diligence-related.
“DiligenceVault offers us the ability to use one tool to centralise our fund data collection and due diligence documents.”
More specifically, Brindle told IPE that the key benefits of the platform are that it allows managers and service providers to enter information directly into USS’s system on a standardised basis rather than having to do so multiple times.
“Also, it provides a centralised store and search function for us across operational due diligence, investment manager selection processes and responsible investment analysis – allowing all manager information to be available in a single place,” Brindle added.
“This will result in time savings at both USS Investment Management and our managers over the period of our relationship as well as helping to improve efficiency.”
With digital diligence a niche area, the choice was essentially between an external provider or USS developing its own internal bespoke solution.
“DiligenceVault offered the functionality we need in an off-the-shelf solution that is ready to go,” he said.
According to DiligenceVault, which announced gaining USS as a client, there are over 18,000 users on its platform. In addition to asset managers and asset owners, clients include consultants, family offices, private banks and sovereign wealth funds.
“We’re thrilled to deliver value and drive efficiency to USS Investment Management which speaks to the universal adaptability of the DiligenceVault platform as the industry continues its digital transformation,” said Monel Amin, the company’s founder.
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