Investor portals are not a new concept. Their adoption across the alternative investment sector can only be applauded in spreading transparency and consistency. With the advent of GDPR in Europe and clearer interpretation of SEC marketing guidelines (particularly Regulation D regarding private placement) in the US, hedge fund websites’ landing pages are increasingly sparse.

Consensus in the US seems to be that a hedge fund provides as little information as possible on the home page, beyond fund names and a login-request. This can help ensure that only visitors with substantiated pre-existing relationships with the fund are able to view materials, however it is limiting for the IR team.

A two-tier system is generally preferable. These enable the website to become a powerful tool in presenting the company, with a general area covering principal bios, news and brand (and the necessary disclaimers). A second, protected area adding depth, is what we term the ‘investor portal’.

Generally, a portal is accessed through a manager’s public web domain. They require higher levels of security and investor clarification to access, and the depth of information available is often tiered.

The ideal portal synchronises with the manager’s CRM with accurate and relevant information dissemination from a single, navigable site. The portal can be a powerful tool in gathering relevant investor data, ensuring disclaimers are checked, updating subscriptions to mail shots and in some cases, provide meeting booking facilities.

The first in-depth portal I encountered, which offered more than simply a daily P&L for investors’ managed accounts, was an internally built system at a $1bn plus CTA.

It was hoped that by providing clients with a repository of value-added information, such as research papers, sector analysis and positioning indicators, that they could find the answers to their own questions rather than calling the portfolio management team.

But due to the overwhelming amount of available information in the delivered product, clients still preferred to call, rather than navigate the labyrinthine bespoke product.

Portals are conceived with investors in mind and correctly delivered, make life easier for managers and investors, but often in-house portals do not share a common format, language or data points.

Investors are left to create their own tools for comparing holdings, as well as retaining individual logins to multiple sites, making the process burdensome, potentially not worth the reward and rendering the portal unfit for purpose.

It is this realisation that has led to growth and innovation in the sector of outsourced client portals, whose competitive pricing and quality mean there is often little point developing an in-house solution. We recently engaged the services of a portal provider. Before looking, we created a check list of the requirements:

• Compliance: ability to restrict information by geography, investor competence classification and eligibility was paramount. We needed to record client marketing preferences, while disclaimers had to be easily added and amended on demand.

• Email campaigns: We wanted to tailor these to different groups, and to send individual, targeted mails and invitations. Marketing is worthless if it cannot be measured, so powerful analytics on uptake and interaction were vital.

• Data sources: We wanted clients to draw on the most relevant data, customisable to them.

• Means of access: We wanted the system to be mobile-optimised, while having an open API for accessing the nuts and bolts conveniently. It needed to be static, extensive and suited to academic scrutiny.

• Corporate image: The portal’s look and feel had to reflect our values of credible, technologically advanced entrepreneurs.

• Document repository: We are a small fund in growth mode. Our portal needed to provide every document required to bring clients over the line, to maximise road time and minimise administrative tasks.

Armed with specification requirements from our team and prospective clients, we began reviewing the available solutions.

Many were rapidly discounted on cost, functionality or fit, but eventually we found a provider who ticked our boxes and wanted to help us develop their product.

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