Method and apparatus for determining investment manager skill

1. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for evaluating an investment manager's skill, the method steps comprising:

determining a time frame over which to calculate statistics, said time frame comprising a plurality of time periods of a predefined duration;

determining a universe of asset returns according to a mandate of the manager;

generating a predetermined number of return portfolios from the universe of assets to form a return distribution for each time period, said generating comprising the steps of:

randomly selecting an asset from the universe, for each portfolio, generating a random weight for the selected asset in the portfolio, for each portfolio,

wherein the random weight for each selected asset is constrained to be between a defined minimum and maximum value,

calculating a return for the asset by multiplying an actual asset return by the generated weight for each asset, for each portfolio,

summing the return of each asset to calculate a portfolio return, for each portfolio, and

storing the portfolio return for each portfolio in the return distribution,

wherein the steps of selecting an asset, generating a weight, calculating a return for the asset, and calculating a portfolio return are repeated until at least 100% of the portfolio weight has been allocated;

obtaining return data for a manager for each given time period;

standardizing the manager's return data for each given time period; and

calculating measurement statistics to calculate the manager's performance over the plurality of time periods,

wherein the measurement statistics include one or more of a mean, a standard deviation, a confidence interval, a regression coefficient, and a factor weight as determined by an analysis of variance, factor analysis or principle component analysis.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein more than 100% of the portfolio is allocated to account for leverage.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the minimum value is different for one or more assets, and the maximum value is different for one or more assets.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of segmenting the universe of assets returns into a plurality of sectors, identifying which sector to which an asset belongs and adding the return for the asset to a sector return, and storing sector returns.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising the step of checking that a total weight of all assets in any one sector is constrained to be between a defined minimum and maximum value.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the minimum value is different for one or more sectors, and the maximum value is different for one or more sectors.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the random weight for each selected asset is constrained to be between a defined minimum and maximum value.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the asset is a security.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the asset is a portfolio of securities.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the random weight for the selected asset in the portfolio represents a random quantity of securities in the portfolio.

11. A program storage device readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform the method steps for evaluating an investment manager's skill, said method comprising the steps of:

determining a time frame over which to calculate statistics, said time frame comprising a plurality of time periods of a predefined duration;

determining a universe of asset returns according to a mandate of the manager;

generating a predetermined number of return portfolios from the universe of assets to form a return distribution for each time period, said generating comprising the steps of:

randomly selecting an asset from universe, for each portfolio,

generating a random weight for the selected asset in the portfolio, for each portfolio,

wherein the random weight for each selected asset is constrained to be between a defined minimum and maximum value,

calculating a return for the asset by multiplying an actual asset return by the generated weight for each asset, for each portfolio,

summing the return of each asset to calculate a portfolio return, for each portfolio, and

storing the portfolio return for each portfolio in the return distribution,

wherein the steps of selecting an asset, generating a weight, calculating a return for the asset, and calculating a portfolio return are repeated until at least 100% of the portfolio weight has been allocated;

obtaining return data for a manager for each given time period;

standardizing the manager's return data for each given time period; and

calculating measurement statistics to calculate the manager's performance over the plurality of time periods,

wherein the measurement statistics include one or more of a mean, a standard deviation, a confidence interval, a regression coefficient, and a factor weight as determined by an analysis of variance, factor analysis or principal component analysis.

12. The computer readable program storage device of claim 11 , wherein more than 100% of the portfolio is allocated to account for leverage.

13. The computer readable program storage device of claim 11 , wherein the minimum value is different for one or more assets, and the maximum value is different for one or more assets.

14. The computer readable program storage device of claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises the steps of segmenting the universe of assets returns into a plurality of sectors, identifying which sector to which an asset belongs and adding the return for the asset to a sector return, and storing sector returns.

15. The computer readable program storage device of claim 14 , the method further comprising the step of checking that a total weight of all assets in any one sector is constrained to be between a minimum and maximum value.

16. The computer readable program storage device of claim 15 , wherein the minimum value is different for one or more sectors, and the maximum value is different for one or more sectors.

17. The computer readable program storage device of claim 15 , wherein the random weight for each selected asset is constrained to be between a minimum and maximum value.

18. The computer readable program storage device of claim 11 , wherein the asset is a security.

19. The computer readable program storage device of claim 11 , wherein the asset is a portfolio of securities.

20. The computer readable program storage device of claim 11 , wherein the random weight for the selected asset in the portfolio represents a random quantity of securities in the portfolio.