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Synaptic Product & Fund Research Due Diligence Updated
To help you carry out your due diligence, we have put together responses to the most commonly asked questions within this document available for download: Synaptic Product & Fund Due Diligence.pdf We are happy to carry out more detailed due d...
What is the best way to check if a specific fund is linked to a Contract?
If you would like to see if a specific fund share class is linked to a contract, the best way is to view this through the Fund factsheet. On the Homepage, use the Quick find box. You can use the fund name or citicode to search: Once the fund fa...
Why can't I find Royal London Governed Portfolios and GRIPS?
The Royal London Governed Portfolios and GRIPS are no longer supplied by FEFundInfo in our fund feed. They have been replaced by the unitised funds below in order to streamline the selection process for advisers. The unitised funds will display the...
What are the AIC sector changes for Investment Trusts?
The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has conducted a comprehensive sector review resulting in the creation of 14 new sectors and removal of 8 existing sectors. Investment Trusts previously listed in sectors which have been removed have bee...
Where has the IA Money Market sector gone?
The Investment Association (IA) have renamed the IA Money Market sector to IA Standard Money Market. All funds previously listed in IA Money Market can be located within the newly named sector. As sectors are listed alphabetically in Synaptic Produ...
I can't log into Synaptic Product & Fund Research - Why?
Common issues which may occur when logging into Synaptic Product & Fund research Research:- When clicking through to Synaptic Product and Fund Research through the synaptic suite, you receive a error: This indicates your username a...
Who supplies the past performance data and how often is it updated?
The fund past performance data in Synaptic Research is supplied by FE, as described above. Synaptic are responsible for calculating some derived functions of the past performance such as alpha and beta. All fund data is as-at the most recent mo...
What are the different types of fund research?
Synaptic Research provides four types of fund research: Research into unit trusts, life funds, pension funds, and offshore funds and investment trusts. Research into all the funds offered by a single promoter (such as Fidelity or Merrill Lynch)....
Are there any tools available?
The menu bar on the software’s home page provides access to a number of other tools within the software. Each of these is described in a separate section below. The tools which are listed depend not only on which modules of the software your firm h...
Are there any tips when using fund research?
Synaptic Research obviously responds faster if there are fewer funds which it needs to display in the grid. Therefore, wherever possible, it’s best to set up filtering, using the Features and Stats tabs, before you add funds to the g...
Are there any tips when filtering?
You can see everything you’re currently filtering on – and why specific contracts are being excluded – using the audit trail. If you make a recommendation to a client which they turn down – e.g. that they need waiver of premium – you can redu...
What is the Resource Centre?
The Resource Centre is a selection of useful documents, tools, and links to web sites. Its contents are constantly updated in line with industry events, but examples include: Critical illness definitions. Ethical investment informatio...
The home page
See the Getting Started section for a brief introduction to the software. There are three main facilities available from the software’s home page. These are illustrated by the numbered areas in the screenshot below: 1. A...
Do I use the Fund Picker or research into linked funds?
Firms who subscribe to both the product and fund modules of Synaptic Research have a choice: you can either use the Fund Picker as a quick and simple way of selecting the funds to recommend on a contract, or you can use the Fund Research link in or...
How do you use the field chooser?
The section above describes how to add fields to the grid one-by-one. However, if you want to add lots of fields at once it is much more convenient to use the Field chooser – click on the Options link in the top right of the grid, and...
How do I obtain protection quotes through Synaptic?
When performing research into some products (mostly price-led contracts such as term assurance, CIC etc.), Synaptic provides the valuable option of retrieving live quotations so that you can perform research using features AND pricing at the sam...
What fund reports can I produce?
You can generate suitability reports for fund research in exactly the same way as for product research: you use the Report link on the menu bar of either the filtering screen or the ranking screen. As ever, it is worth bearing in mind that...
What is the difference between Quick reports and Suitability reports?
The final stage in the client-focused research process is to generate documentation for the client explaining which contract you are recommending, and why. N.B. Don’t forget that the system can be used to generate many other types of “repor...
Can you edit Suitability reports?
Synaptic Research can be used to generate anything from single-page summaries of research to full multi-page suitability reports which cover all regulatory requirements such as affordability, reviews, and attitude to risk. If your firm has pur...
How does Synaptic deal with contract data?
Synaptic does not just copy “brochure” text out of a contract’s Key Features document. All data is analysed, and expressed quantitatively where possible – e.g. three detailed, filterable fields rather than a single field containing brochure text. ...
Does Synaptic save clients and research?
All clients and pieces of research are automatically stored in Synaptic Research – there are no Save buttons which need to be clicked (and research has to be explicitly deleted if you no longer want it). Synaptic guarantees to store old resear...
How do you calculate the Stochastic projection graphs?
The stochastic projection graphs use a fund’s historic returns to estimate the probability of future returns. Synaptic Research runs 10,000 Monte Carlo projections per fund and then shows every fifth percentile return between the 5 th and 95 th...
Where do I find products and how do I start new research?
The first screenshot shows the list of product types on the software’s home page, divided up into tabbed groups such as Health, Life and Investments. See the section on Synaptic’s data for more information about how this list of product type...
How do I start fund research?
You start fund research by choosing one of the types from the Fund Data section on the Investments tab of the Home page. The screenshot below shows this tab with the fund section highlighted. You then have the option...
What report templates do you have on Synaptic?
For most types of product, the system offers a choice of two Report Manager Templates (in addition to any bespoke ones your firm has created): Template Contents Research Report An appendix to a full suitability repor...
Where can I find Special offers?
A list of all current special offers is available from the Resource Centre. (If your firm has paid for access to the special offer data, but not the Resource Centre, then the link to the special offers page is instead displayed on the men...
Can I sort the grid in the filtering screen?
By default, the grid of contracts is sorted by company name and then by contract name. The field on which the grid is currently sorted is highlighted in a darker blue. You can sort the grid on a different column simply by clicking on the column...
Can I share research?
Designated users have the ability to mark research as shared so that it can be imported by other users. You mark research as shared simply by clicking on the not shared link on the menu bar. You can stop sharing the research by clicking on the link...
Can I send research to other users?
You can send your research to another user of the system. This is designed to cover three main scenarios: Advisers submitting research to a compliance officer. Paraplanners exchanging work with their advisers. Communication between me...
Can I send research between users?
You can send your research to other users. They can then view it, amend it, and send it back (or even forward it on to other people). This functionality is designed to cater for three main scenarios: Advisers submitting research to a compliance...
How is the sector position graph calculated?
N.B. When inspecting multiple funds, this graph is only available if all funds are in the same ABI/IMA sector. The sector position graph shows a fund’s performance in each discrete 12-month period versus the spread of returns in its sector, a...
How do I save results from the fund picker and include it in reports?
The results of the Fund Picker – i.e. your chosen selection of funds – must be saved using the Save list button which is highlighted in the screenshot below. The list of selected funds is then included in any suitability reports which y...
Can I save and export the research grid?
The research grid, including all the data fields you have added, can be saved in PDF form using the Save as PDF link on the menu bar. The grid can also be exported in CSV format (for opening in Microsoft Excel) by clicking on the Export...
How is the returns each month graph calculated?
The graph of returns each month simply shows the fund's percentage gain/loss each month as a series of columns. The spikiness of the graph is obviously one indicator of volatility. You can choose to include the sector average or a stock...
Can I research new and existing business?
Synaptic has over fifteen years of experience of providing tools to financial advisers which enable them to research new business quickly and efficiently, and to document their recommendations. Synaptic Research continues to model “best practice” r...
What is the difference between Report Manager Suitability reports and Quick reports?
Report Manager Suitability report templates create documents which are downloaded for editing on your computer, in Microsoft Word or similar software. They have two advantages over Quick Reports: You have access to full word-processing function...
Can I remove all filters on the filtering screen?
You can remove all the filters you have put in place, in one go, by clicking on the Clear all filters button at the bottom of the list of fields. This simply removes the filtering and refreshes the screen. However, it does not remove any filteri...
Can I record notes on research?
You can record notes about your research to remind you of key points, or to act as a to-do list. The note entry form is displayed as an extra tab above the list of fields, and is illustrated by the first screenshot below. You simply ente...
How are the ranking graphs calculated?
Once you have defined your ranking scheme, and clicked on Calculate, the system displays the resulting league table as illustrated by the screenshot below. This consists of a tab showing the overall scores for each contract, and then a separate tab...
How are funds ranked?
Fund research can be ranked in the same way as product research: you click on the Ranking link in the menu bar of the grid page, and then define a ranking scheme. This is effectively a sophisticated “weighted sort”: you can build league tabl...
How do I rank contracts into a league table?
Once you have researched a list of contracts they can be ranked into a league table. You simply click on the Ranking tool in the menu bar at the top of the filtering screen, as illustrated by the screenshot below. (N.B. Ranking is...
Do you have a link to quote engines?
Links to quote engines such as Exweb or Webline are only available if you have recorded your user details for the quote engine in your Synaptic Research account. Once you have done this, quotes become available from the following areas of th...
What is in the Quick reports and can they be edited?
Quick Report templates open in your web browser, as illustrated by the first screenshot. You can then simply print the report, or use the link in the menu bar to save it in PDF form. The system’s standard Quick Report template consists of...
How is the quartile ranking graph calculated?
The quartile ranking graph shows a plot of a fund’s quartile rankings within each discrete 12-month period. In the first example screenshot below, the fund has been a top-quartile performer in 7 out of the 10 periods. A similar plot...
How are the contracts categorised?
Synaptic categorises types of products using a three-tier hierarchy: Group e.g. Pension Income, Investments Type e.g. Annuity, ISA Sub-type(or “basis”) e.g. Cash ISA, Stocks & Shares ISA, Purcha...
Is there a difference between Product Research and Fund Research?
Fund research works in almost exactly the same way as research into products such as term assurance, investment bonds, annuities etc. Mutual funds are treated as just another type of product, and have an entry (“Fund data”) on the Investments tab o...
How is Synaptic Research beneficial to Product providers?
Synaptic Research gives product providers access to competitor-analysis and product-shaping information in a system which is fully functional, fast, and easy to use. No need to shunt data out into Excel for manual analysis or reporting – though an...
How do I setup Preset Criteria?
Preset criteria allow compliance officers to apply (orenforce, if required) standards across their organisation. For example: Contract features which must be recommended to a client (e.g. PPI on personal pensions). Other conditions w...
How do I create a Portfolio?
A portfolio is simply a manual fund list for which you have defined holdings – e.g. that 20% of the client’s money is invested in fund A, 30% in fund B, and 50% in fund C. You set these values using the Portfolio link on the menu bar. This...
How is the portfolio value graph calculated?
The portfolio value graph can be used for a projection of two things: either the performance of a hypothetical portfolio starting n years ago, or the historical performance of a current portfolio given its current holdings. You specify the am...
Can I produce a Portfolio report?
You can generate a report about a portfolio by viewing the portfolio settings and then clicking on the Report button at the bottom of the pop-up screen. The report about a portfolio consists of the following parts: The name of t...
How is the portfolio composition graph calculated?
The portfolio composition graph shows how the split of investments in a portfolio changes over time as a result of each fund performing differently. It is particularly useful in helping clients to understand that asset allocations need t...
How is the performance vs. volatility graph calculated?
The performance vs. volatility graph shows a plot of a fund’s annualised performance (on the X axis) versus its volatility over the same period (on the Y axis). The graph is most useful when comparing multiple funds rather than a single fund, as i...
Can I create a panel of products?
Synaptic’s comprehensive market research can be used to establish panels and/or lists of approved products. Panels can be based on either of the following two things, or a combination of them: A manual selection of approved contracts. ...
Can I create mutual fund analysis and factsheets?
Synaptic maintains a list of all the fund links available on investment contracts. This information can then be used for a wide variety of analysis and reporting: List all the funds available on a specific contract (including wrap platforms). Lis...
How do I use Manual fund lists?
As described above, a manual fund list is simply an ad hoc list of funds chosen by you, rather than a list of funds which have something in common – such as unit trusts in the same sector, funds linked to a specific contract etc. You add funds to a...
How is the monthly premium graph calculated?
The monthly premium graph shows the performance of a £100 monthly investment into the fund(s) over the chosen time period. One of its uses is to demonstrate to clients the potential benefits of pound-cost averaging. Performance will obviously be...
How can I create market research?
Synaptic Research can be used for any number of generic research purposes, as well as for providing advice to clients: Build spreadsheet-style grids of data which can be filtered and sorted near-instantly regardless of their size. Compare specifi...
Can I manually exclude contracts?
As well as (or instead of) filtering the grid of contracts, you can also manually select which contracts to include. This is particularly useful for comparing a specific set of contracts rather than the whole of market – e.g. product provider compet...
Can I create a list of linked funds for a contract?
A full contract factsheet, as described above, includes a section showing all the linked funds available on the contract. However, this information can also be obtained in a more concise form on a separate screen – i.e. a screen which only shows th...
Is there limitations if you only subscribe to one module of Synaptic Research?
The full fund research functionality is only available if your firm subscribes to both the product and fund research modules of Synaptic Research. The following table shows which elements of the fund functionality are included in which modules: ...
Do you integrate with other software?
Synaptic Research can be integrated with any other software– back-office client management systems, extranets, quote portals, etc. The integration is two-way: client and other data can be passed in to pre-populate Synaptic Research, and all reports...
How do I import filtering from old research?
You can re-use the filtering you’ve already created in a piece of existing research by importing it into the research you’re currently carrying out. You can also import shared research which has been created by your compliance officer. You do th...
How are the ranking scores calculated?
The ranking scores for each item are calculated by taking the values for the item (e.g. surrender values), placing them in order, and then allocating scores to each contract based on their position in the ranked list. If there are 10 contracts, the...
Can I lock features within preset criteria?
Compliance officers can force users to filter on criteria which they regard as essential – for example, Pension Premium Insurance – by creating preset criteria. This is covered in full in the section below on compliance tools. Compliance of...
Can I create a portfolio graph?
There are three ways in which portfolios can be used for graphing: Graphing the performance of the portfolio as a whole You can graph the performance of the portfolio as a whole in two ways: Click on the Portfolio link to view the portfolio se...
Can I give users the ability to create preset criteria?
Preset criteria can only be created by designated users. There are two applicable settings in the details for a user account: Allow this user to create preset criteria for the whole firm. Allow this user to create personal preset criteria. ...
Can I generate multiple fund factsheets and graphs?
You can generate a factsheet for a single fund by clicking on its name in the grid. You can create a graph for the fund by right-clicking over the name and choosing Graph from the pop-up menu (or by opening the fund factsheet, and then choosing th...
What fund sectors do you have on Synaptic Research?
Synaptic Research uses two different types of fund classification in different contexts: Relative past performance figures such as quartile rankings and alpha are calculated in relation to the fund’s ABI or IA sector average. On the Sectors tab ...
How do you use the Fund Picker?
The Fund Picker is a tool which is available on the list of linked funds for a contract. It is accessible from the page’s menu bar, as illustrated by the screenshot below: The Fund Picker takes the full list of funds which are available on the...
What fund graphs can I find on Synaptic Research?
Synaptic Research provides a wide range of fund graphs, see below. (Please note that firms who have only subscribed to Synaptic Research’s product module only have access to the annual performance graph.) Cumulative performance Monthly premium ...
What information is in the fund factsheets?
Fund factsheets show four types of information about a fund: Basic details such as management group, sector, and fund size. Past performance, including derived functions of past performance such as quartile rankings, alpha FE Crown ratings. Ass...
Do you have Ethical funds on the system?
If a fund has an ethical policy, its factsheet will include a green marker at the bottom of the first section which gives the basic details of the fund. This is illustrated and highlighted in the first screenshot. Clicking on the link in this bo...
Can I flip the grid in the filtering screen?
N.B. Flipping the grid only applies to product research. It is not available on fund research. When you are dealing with a small number of contracts, and a large number of data fields, it can be easier to view the grid in a “flipped” orientation ...
How do I find old research?
All research within the system is automatically stored . Therefore, you don’t have to click on any sort of save button to tell the system to keep your work. Unless you deliberately delete old research, all the work you’ve done in the past 30 days c...
How do I find contracts, providers, funds, and clients?
The area on the right of the software’s home page lets you search for contracts, product providers, funds, and clients. You simply click on the tab for the type of search you want to do, and then enter the text to search for. The first screenshot be...
Who supplies your data?
Synaptic Research uses mutual fund and index data supplied by Financial Express Limited. Financial Express is a data company which specialises in the collection, validation, dissemination and analysis of fund information. It supplies more than hal...
What are the benefits of using Synaptic Research?
The key elements for financial advisers are clearly researching recommendations to clients, and generating documentation to support a recommendation: The key benefits to financial advisers are as follows: Speed and ease of use, but in a system wh...
How do I filter the grid of contracts?
When you start new research into a product type, the list on the right-hand side of the screen includes all the contracts held in Synaptic’s database (unless your firm has asked Synaptic to trim the data down e.g. to implement a multi-tie or panel)....
How do I filter on statistics within Product research?
The Stats tab lists a variety of statistics about contracts: financial strength, investment flexibility in terms of linked funds and sectors, plus own-charge and premium information about contracts (depending on the type of product). Examples of t...
Can I filter on specific linked funds?
As well as – or instead of – filtering on sectors, you can also eliminate contracts which do not offer specific linked funds. The functionality for doing this is at the bottom of the sectors list. In the first screenshot, contracts are being eli...
How do I filter on sectors?
The Sectors tab shows all the sectors in which any of the contracts offers a linked fund. The software offers a choice of two sectors definitions, FE or IMA/ABI/AIC. The latter provides the well-known but less detailed sector definitions. FE Glo...
How do I filter on policy conditions?
The Policy Conditions tab shows conditions such as minimum initial ages, minimum investments, various types of charging etc. The list of policy conditions can include two types of field: numeric fields, which can be filtered; and textual fields, ...
How do I filter on past performance?
The Past Performance ( PP ) tab shows the same list of sectors as the Sectors tab. NOTE – the sector classification shown on the PP tab will follow the sector classification choice made on the Sectors tab. If no sector classification choic...
How do I filter on field values in the grid?
When you have added a data column to the grid you can then filter the grid by clicking on values in the column. For example, in the first screenshot, clicking on the highlighted “Yes” value (or any of the other Yes values below it) would add filteri...
How do I filter on features?
The Features tab shows Synaptic’s analysis of all the features offered by any of the contracts being researched. You mark a feature as being essential for the client’s requirements simply by ticking the box next to the feature’s name. The grid...
Can I view field definitions and contract notes?
You can view a definition of a field by clicking the right mouse button over a field name and choosing Show definition from the pop-up menu. Notes about contracts can be viewed in two ways: Right-click over a contract name in the grid and choose...
What data does FE fundinfo supply?
Synaptic Research uses mutual fund and index data supplied by FE Fundinfo. FE Fundinfo is a data company which specialises in the collection, validation, dissemination and analysis of fund information. It supplies more than half of all UK fund man...
How is the distribution of returns graph calculated?
N.B. This graph is very difficult to read with more than one fund on it. It is only really designed to inspect a single fund. The distribution of returns shows the pattern of the fund’s returns each month over the chosen period. The system looks ...
Can I distribute personal presets across the firm?
As described above, we recommend that presets are initially created in personal mode, so that they only apply to you. You then distribute the presets across your firm once you have finished editing them. You can do this by clicking on the Change p...
Can I display factsheets from the data grid?
The data grid provides quick access to factsheets about companies and individual contracts: Click on a company name in the grid for a company factsheet. Click on a contract name for a contract factsheet. In addition, you can right-click on the ...
What are the differences between product-focused and client-focused research?
As described above, client-focused research is where you enter client details and (depending on the type of product) details of policy benefits/contributions. Product-focused research is where you simply skip this information, in order to carry out ...
What are the differences between fund research and product research?
It may be useful to note the following minor differences between product and fund research – facilities which work differently, or which are not available on fund research: A grid of fund research cannot be flipped. It can only be displayed in its...
Can I delete research?
All research within Synaptic Research is automatically stored. Therefore, if you don’t want to keep a piece of research you have to explicitly delete it. This can be done using the Delete link on the menu bar. Alternatively, you can delete multip...
What are the definitions of fund performance figures?
Quartile ranking A fund’s quartile ranking is its position within its IMA/ABIsector, based on absolute past performance, over a given time period. Synaptic Research uses two different measures of quartile rankings within its fund factsheets: Cu...
How do I define portfolio holdings and settings?
You define the settings for a portfolio using the Portfolio link in the menu bar of your manual fund list. This lets you enter three pieces of information: the holding in each fund; how to value the holdings; and the benchmark to compare the o...
What products do you have on Synaptic Research?
Synaptic Research covers all the life, pension and investment products which can be sold by independent financial advisers in the UK. The standard data available through the system is as follows, and is subject to frequent change in the light of in...
How is the cumulative performance graph calculated?
The cumulative graph shows the performance of a £1,000 lump sum investment over the chosen time period. (If you want to graph a value other than £1,000, use the portfolio value graph instead.) You can change the time period, and choose to includ...
How do I create shared research for other users to import?
Preset criteria , as described above, allow compliance officers to enforce their minimum requirements – e.g. that all recommendations of personal pensions must include PPI. The system’s sharing functionality is different: it provides a way for com...
How do I create preset criteria?
Preset criteria can be created using the Preset criteria link on the menu bar of the home page. This displays the screen illustrated by the screenshot to the below. Presets can be created either at product-type level, applying to all sub-types...
Can I create new research based on existing research?
You can use old research as a template for starting new research. There are two slightly different ways of doing this: creating a copy of the old research, and importing the old research into new research. Copying old research You can create a c...
Can I create multiple presets?
As described above, you can create more than one set of presets for each product type. In the example illustrated by the screenshot below, there are three groups of presets defined for Personal Pensions, based on risk (and you could create a fourth ...
Can I copy research?
The Copy link on the menu bar creates a new piece of research based on the current research – i.e. new research containing all the same filtering, grid fields, client details, ranking etc. which the current research has. (You can also create a co...
Can I create bespoke Report Manager Suitability report templates?
If your firm has paid for the additional functionality, bespoke templates can be created using a copy of Synaptic’s Report Manager Software. The templates are then uploaded from the desktop into Synaptic Research. Multiple templates can be created ...
What data is within contract factsheets?
A contract factsheet shows all the information which Synaptic records about a contract. It consists of some or all of the following sections – some sections are not applicable to some types of product. Special offer Any special offer current...
Can you use Synaptic research for Compliance checking?
Synaptic Research gives compliance officers an unrivaled ability to enforce standards across their organisation, monitor the advice which is being given, and to lower compliance risk. Enforce templates for suitability reports and other reports acr...
How do I create a comparison report?
The Comparison link on the menu bar of the filtering page shows every single field about the contracts remaining in the research grid. For example, it can be used to generate complete comparisons of a specific group of contracts (e.g. competitor ana...
How do I create a Company factsheets
A company factsheet shows information about a product provider. It consists of four sections, illustrated by the screenshot below: The company’s description of themselves. Head-office contact details. A list of the products offered by the com...
How can I check fund availability?
You can see which contracts a group of funds can be bought through using the Availability link in the menu bar. This link is displayed on both the filtering and ranking-results pages. Clicking on the Availability link displays a pop-up window w...
How do I change the title of research?
Each piece of research is automatically given a title, based on the product type and the client’s details (if any). You can change the title of the research to make it more memorable using the Change title link on the menu bar. There are a number...
Can I change the order of data fields in the grid?
Once you have added fields to the research grid you can change the order of the columns by clicking on the Options link in the top right of the grid, and then choosing the Change field order link. This displays the pop-up window illustrated by t...
How do I carry out file-checks?
File-checks allow designated users – usually compliance officers – to inspect the research created by other members of their firm.(This only applies to client-focused research. Product-focused research cannot be viewed in a file-check.) You can sta...
How do I build grids and filtering contracts?
The filtering screen provides access to a wealth of functionality. The simplest overview of it is a description of the screen’s layout see article: The layout of the filtering screen. This area of the software doesn’t just handle filtering of th...
What browser software can I use?
Synaptic Research is designed to run on the following platforms (and all later versions of each browser): Windows Internet Explorer 6.0, 7.0 (recommended) 8.0 or 9.0 Firefox 1.0 or 2.0, 3.0 or 6.0 Netscape 7.0 Google Chrome 15....
Do you have any browser hints and tips?
Security, privacy, and pop-up window settings The Browser configuration section describes the browser settings which are required in order to be able to use Synaptic Research. Printing The best way of printing pages in the software is to use ...
Do I need to configure my browser to use Synaptic Research?
Synaptic Research should normally not require you to make any changes to your browser configuration. For example, it should be possible to go into pretty much any internet cafe, type in the software’s URL, and start using it. There are no component...
Is bid-to-bid used for the data on your factsheets?
Figures used in fund factsheets in Synaptic Research are on a bid-to-bid basis. Figures used in product research – i.e. for ranking etc. –are on a bid-to-bid basis. Ranking calculations take account of annual management charges only. Bid-Offer s...
How is the best/worst returns graph calculated?
The best/worst returns graph shows a fund’s average annual return over the chosen period versus the range from its best to worst returns over the last 10 years. (Note that the best-worst range always looks at the full 10 years regardless of the time...
What are the basics of fund research?
Fund research starts at the same filtering/grid screen as product research. The principle is exactly the same as for product research: you can filter funds out by selecting features, and by specifying values for fields on the Stats tab (e.g. remov...
How is the asset allocation graph calculated?
The asset allocation graph shows a pie chart of a fund’s industry/sector holdings. It can be used either to illustrate the holdings of a single fund or to compare the holdings of multiple funds. In the example screenshot below a typical UK growth fu...
How is the annual premium graph calculated?
The monthly premium graph shows the performance of a £1,200 annual investment into the fund(s) over the chosen time period. The graph obviously shows an upward spike in value every 12 months when a new premium is invested. The illustrative value...
How is the annual performance graph calculated?
The annual performance graph shows the fund’s performance in each discrete 12-month period to date. It is similar to the graph which is included in fund factsheets, and meets the FCA’s requirements for fund advertising (though this regulation only a...
How is the alpha vs. beta graph calculated?
The alpha vs. beta graph shows a plot of a fund’s alpha (on the X axis) versus its beta (on the Y axis). The graph is most useful when comparing multiple funds rather than a single fund, as in the example illustrated by the screenshot below: Hig...
How do I add fields to the grid?
When you first start research into a product type, the filtering screen shows only the company and name of each contract. This is illustrated by the first screenshot below: You can add any number of data fields to this grid, as illustrated by th...
When do presets take effect?
Presets take effect when the user starts a new piece of research. The preset criteria are copied into the adviser’s research at outset.They are also locked, if the compliance officer chooses this option. Changes by the compliance officer to the pre...
How do I set up Personal Preset Criteria?
If, when doing research for a particular product, you always choose the same basic criteria then you could save yourself time and set these up as Preset Criteria . Presets can be set up on a Personal basis (just for you to use) or a Company basis ...
Can I share my research?
This article explains how to share research with other named users within your licence. Any research that has been produced within Synaptic Research can be shared with other named users within your licence. The benefit of this is that if any of yo...
How can I filter on Past Performance?
The Past Performance ( PP) tab shows the same list of sectors as the Sectors tab. Note - the sector classification shown on the PP tab will follow the sector classification choice made on the Sectors tab. If no sector classification choice ha...
How do I research Stocks and Shares ISA - Alternative Investment Market?
You can now filter Stocks and Shares ISAs by contracts that allow for investment in the Alternative Investment Market. Start by navigating to the Investment Tab Select ' Stocks and Shares ' from under ' Individual Savings Accounts '. Ente...
What is Ranking?
Within Synaptic Research you have the ability to filter - which is to remove all contracts that don't meet the client's requirements. Ranking is done if there is more than one contract left, once filtering has been completed, to help decide which is...
How do I use the Fund Picker?
Once a piece of product research has been worked through to Reports and the contract to be recommended has been selected, there will be a button called Fund Picker . Click on this and you will get the following options: 1) Choose a sector an...
How do I retrieve research?
Once research has been started on Synaptic it will be automatically saved if you need to leave the software. To retrieve the research, from the Home Page , navigate to the Recent tab: Here you will find the last twenty pieces of research t...
How do I select a Product Area to Research?
The Synaptic Research home page provides access to a number of areas. The software will always open on the Home tab, containing news about products, companies and information on Synaptic products and training. The following seven tabs will give yo...
How do I start client focused research?
Research can either be 'Client focused' or 'Product focused'. This article will explain how to start a piece of 'Client focused' research. Please refer to 'How do I start product focused research?' for more information on product focused research. ...
How do I start Product Focused Research?
Research can either be 'Product focused' or 'Client focused'. This article will explain how to start a piece of 'Product focused' research, sometimes known as generic research. Please refer to 'How do I start client focused research?' for more info...
What are the differences between Client Focused and Product Focused Research?
'Client Focused' research is where you enter the client details and (depending on the type of product) details of the policy benefits/contributions. 'Product Focused' research is where you simply skip this information, in order to carry out general ...
Introduction to filtering
The Filtering screen is the first stage of every piece of research performed in Synaptic Research. On the right hand side of the screen it will display all the contracts for the type of product being researched. On the left hand side it shows all th...
Have you got any tips on filtering?
Here are some tips when filtering contracts and where relevant, funds: You can see everything you are currently filtering on and why specific contracts/funds are being excluded by using the Audit Trail If you make a recommendation to a client whi...
How do I filter on features?
The Features tab shows Synaptic's analysis of all the features offered by the contracts being researched. You mark a feature as being essential for the client's requirements simply by ticking the box next to the feature's name. The grid is immedi...
How do I filter on sectors?
The Sectors tab shows all the sectors in which any of the contracts offers a linked fund. Synaptic offers a choice of two sector definitions, FE (Financial Express) or IMA/ABI/AIC. The latter provides the well-known but less detailed sector defin...
How do I filter on Policy Conditions?
The policy conditions tab shows conditions such as minimum initial ages, minimum investments, various types of charging etc. The list of policy conditions can include two types of fields - numeric fields which can be filtered and textual fields whi...
How do I filter on Specific Linked Funds?
As well as, or instead of filtering on sectors, you can also eliminate contracts which do not offer specific linked funds. This can be done by selecting one of the options at the bottom of the Sectors tab: Selecting funds individually Funds c...
How do I filter on Statistics?
The Stats tab lists a variety of statistics about contracts - financial strength, investment flexibility in terms of linked funds and sectors, plus charges and premium information about contracts (all dependent on the type of product). For example...
Can I remove all filtering within a piece of Research?
You can remove all the filters you have selected at once by selecting (clicking on) Clear all filters from the bottom of the features list in the Filtering screen: This simply removes all the filtering and refreshes the screen. However, it doe...
How do I manually exclude contracts?
As well as (or instead of) filtering the grid of contracts, you can also manually select contracts to be excluded. Note - Manual exclusion only applies to product research. It is not available on fund research. You can specify the contracts to e...
Can I create an audit trail?
The audit trail records all the contracts and criteria that has been selected. It clearly shows what contracts have been excluded and what criteria selected excluded them. The audit trail is only available in the Filtering screen and can be access ...
How do I filter using a grid of contracts?
When you start a piece of research, the filtering screen only displays the company and name of the contract: Any number of data fields can be added to the grid to view by simply selecting (clicking on) the field name from any of the tabs on the ...
How do I create Multiple Reports on Synaptic Research?
This article explains how to produce a Suitability Report for multiple pieces of research. To be able to use this part of Synaptic, the Multiple Report licence on Synaptic is required. If you do not have this please contact our Customer services te...
How do I send research in Synaptic Research?
This article explains how to send research to other named users on your licence. It is possible to send research between named users on a licence. To do this find the piece of research to be sent to a named user. Use the Send button on the Menu...
Where is my research stored?
Your research is automatically stored on Synaptic’s servers. These are both resilient and secure, but we recommend that you download PDF reports etc. describing your research for your own backup purposes. However, please note that your research its...
How long is stored research held on the system for?
As described in the User Guide, Synaptic guarantees to store research on the system for at least 30 days. This is a minimum contractual requirement – it doesn’t mean that Synaptic will delete research on the 31st day and, at the moment, Synaptic has...
Why is no Quote link being displayed for a product type?
The Quotes section above describes all the areas in which the system displays links to your quotation engine. There are three reasons why these quote links may not be displayed: You haven’t entered the details of your quote engine into your user a...
Does Synaptic Research “run in offline mode”?
No. You need an internet connection to use Synaptic Research. (This guarantees that you always have access to all your work, regardless of which computer you did the research on, and that you are seeing the latest product and data. It also ensures t...