Popular Articles

  1. 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...
  2. 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 ...
  3. 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...
  4. What is the layout of the filtering screen?

    The filtering screen provides access to a wide variety of functionality. The key parts of the screen are illustrated by the numbers in the screenshot below, and are described below.  1. The menu bar   Like all other pages in the...
  5. 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...
  6. 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...
  7. 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...
  8. 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...
  9. 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...
  10. 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...