eComply Consultants (Pty)

Established in 2004, eComplyConsultants (Pty) Ltd is a focused private company providing risk, compliance and corporate governance consulting to a select segment of the financial services industry. Its specialist team of high-calibre professionals, headed by Lesley Harvey and Tim Howse, have all held high-level risk and business management positions.

eComply offers services in corporate governance, ethics and best practice, enterprise risk management, regulatory compliance, operational risk, business continuity and investment performance reporting.

As part of our ongoing commitment to promoting industry best practice, HedgeNews Africa is working with Cape Town-based eComply Consultants (Pty) Ltd who will conduct an independent examination of our annual awards.

The awards already have an established reputation across the industry for their transparent and accountable processes, and this year eComply will independently verify the data used in the decision-making process.

In introducing an independent examination process, we have sought to minimise the administrative burden that results from an additional layer of scrutiny.

The awards methodology remains unchanged —using an established quantitative process to identify those funds that deliver the best risk-adjusted returns in any given calendar year. Nominations are based on 12-month returns, with the winner in each category required to have a Sharpe ratio within 25% of the top Sharpe in the category.

Funds that submit their numbers monthly to the HedgeNews Africa database are automatically considered for the awards — providing a transparent set of monthly returns that form the basis of the quantitative methodology used in deciding the winners. 

The process is a simple one —final nominees (to be announced in January) will need to authorise their administrators to provide their 2011 month-end numbers independently and directly to eComply. This will allow for the returns to be verified by a reputable third party, confirming the figures used in identifying the winners of the HedgeNews Africa Awards.

We would like to thank the nominees and their service providers in advance for their assistance in helping us to enhance the credibility and transparency of our judging process.