Frequently Asked Questions

At Artifex, we leverage industry-standard, best-of-breed tools that are likely familiar to you, to process and visualize your data. We supplement with custom code only where necessary, seamlessly integrating the components. This approach ensures that our projects are efficient, cost-effective, and carry reduced implementation risks compared to a "big bang" approach.

We collaborate closely with our clients at every step of the process. We aim to understand their unique requirements, design target states that align with their objectives, organize data effectively, and deploy results efficiently.

Our service targets family offices, endowments, foundations, registered investment advisors, corporate and public pensions, outsourced CIOs, and boutique investment managers. With our in-depth understanding of the distinct needs and challenges in these sectors, we can provide tailored solutions that cater to their specific requirements.

- Strategic and Tactical Asset Allocation Frameworks / Portfolio Construction

- Investment Committee / Board of Directors Reporting

- Firm-wide Written Policies and Standards

- Critical Process Reporting and Guideline Monitoring

- External Manager Due Diligence

- Vendor / External Stakeholder Management and Due Diligence

Our portfolio of projects encompasses a broad spectrum of investment types, demonstrating our proficiency in handling diverse asset classes. We have a proven track record of building solutions for portfolios ranging from traditional investments like public equities, ETFs, and fixed-income securities to more complex strategies such as alternative investments, private equity, real estate, hedge funds, structured products, and exotic derivatives.

We are able to deal with asset types that are not typically supported by conventional financial risk systems. Any unmodeled assets in a risk report can potentially lead to meaningless or misleading results, so we aim to achieve complete coverage of all holdings.

Our dashboards and reports are carefully crafted to provide asset owners and managers with comprehensive and insightful information. Here are some of the most common elements included in our dashboards and reports:

- Performance Reporting and Attribution

- Risk Factor Sensitivities

- Stress Tests and Scenario Analyses

- Limit and Threshold Monitoring

- Holdings Analysis

- Portfolio Management, Cash Flow, and Waterfall Reports

- Asset Allocation and Portfolio Construction

- Peer Group Tracking

Our team has extensive experience dealing with major regulatory agencies including:

- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

- National Futures Association / Commodity Futures Trading Commission (NFA/CFTC)

- Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)

- Federal Reserve Bank

- BaFin (German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority)  

At Artifex, we leverage various technologies to deliver efficient and effective solutions for our clients. These technologies enable us to streamline processes, enhance data management, and provide robust analytics. Rather than ask our clients to adopt a system in place of their current providers, our philosophy is to work with whichever mission-critical systems they have already adopted, including their investment book of record, pricing models, market data vendors, risk engines, and development libraries. 

Our technology stack is continuously evaluated and updated to incorporate the latest advancements and ensure optimal performance, data security, and reliability. We have extensive experience with risk and investment systems including, MSCI RiskMetrics - Barra, Bloomberg, AlternativeSoft, HedgeMark, Tamale, Axioma, Imagine, and Albourne.