Cindy Castellano, CFA
CEO
Cindy Castellano is the CEO of Cutter Associates and has over 30 years of experience in the investment management industry. She formerly led Cutter Associates’ Client-Facing and Wealth practices, advising asset and wealth management firms on their sales and distribution, marketing, product development, consultant relations, client service, and client reporting. Cindy has conducted system searches for CRM, marketing automation, portals, pitchbooks/client presentation, content management, client reporting, client onboarding, and RFP systems. Prior to joining Cutter, Cindy served as Vice President and Head of Operations for a division of Guggenheim Investments, where she led mutual fund accounting and administration; institutional accounting, billing, and client reporting; SMA operations, performance reporting (GIPS); and fixed income performance, attribution, and risk reporting. As Vice President and Head of Equities, Cindy led the firm’s investment team and supervised equity trading activities.
Cindy also spent 10 years as a Senior Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst, managing over USD 500 million in AUM for mutual funds and VITs using social awareness (ESG), large cap growth, and mid-cap growth investment strategies. She developed the investment process, directed research analysts’ day-to-day efforts, and created the firm’s social criteria and proxy voting guidelines. Cindy, a Chartered Financial Analyst, holds a bachelor’s of business administration from Washburn University.
How often do you review and update your client reporting templates? Most likely, not frequently enough.
How often do you change the oil in your vehicle? Most of us certainly try to change it based on our vehicle manufacturer’s recommendation, perhaps every 5,000 miles or so. Sure, we may slip up from time to time, but eventually we get it taken care of. We make the time and spend the money on oil changes because we need to protect our investment in our vehicle. Shifting gears (smooth segue, I know) … How often do you review and update your client reporting templates? Indications are that your firm doesn’t update its templates anywhere frequently enough.
Most Firms Do Not Have a Formal Process to Update Templates
The 2020 Client Reporting Benchmarking Survey shows that only 24% of responding firms have a schedule for reviewing and updating templates.
A number of factors require firms to review their client reporting templates.
Factors Requiring Template Updates
1. Firm
- Changing your brand
- Mergers and acquisitions
2. Product
- New investment strategies
- New investment vehicles
- Additions/deletions of security types
3. Content
- Addition of new components (e.g., performance attribution, risk)
- Addition of new data (e.g., ESG scores, compliance attestation)
- New text (e.g., ESG overview, inflation impacts)
- New data visualization (e.g., new charts, graphs, tables)
Best Practices and Peer Insights
We hear it all the time ─ investment management firms want best practices, peer insights, and independent analysis. In response, Cutter launched a new Client Reporting Assessment service that leverages our deep client reporting experience to review and assess client reports, and deliver independent analysis. Measuring both format and content against industry and best-in-class standards is crucial.
The key to protecting your client experience investment is regular maintenance. Just as getting regular oil changes keeps your vehicle on the road undergoing a client reporting assessment can help deliver value to your clients.
If you would like more information, or to schedule time to speak with about getting your client reporting assessment started, contact us at [email protected] or comment in the feedback section below.