The Research Team is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the investment process. The team of  professionals is drawn from a variety of backgrounds including equity, fixed income and derivatives trading, hedge fund and fund of funds management, sell-side research and investment banking. Optima pursues a disciplined and transparent 4-step investment process. Investment proposals are formulated by the Research Department and approved by the Investment Policy Committee (IPC). The investment process generally consists of the following steps:

This is the result of formally developed strategy outlooks which are documented and revised quarterly. Tactical adjustments may be made to asset allocation in response to shorter term inputs and events.

A rigorous three-stage manager selection process provides a point of review at the completion of each stage which increases efficiencies by eliminating investment candidates which have not passed an earlier stage. Proprietary analytical manager ranking tools are an integral part of the manager selection process.

This step integrates both qualitative and quantitative elements in the process of portfolio construction and portfolio management.

A dedicated team whose approach to risk management is forward looking so as to identify problems early and take pre-emptive action. Risk is managed through multiple channels, including operational risk management, position level exposure aggregation, value at risk analysis, risk factor modeling and thorough manager monitoring. The risk management team uses an external risk firm (Measurisk) as well as proprietary risk management software tools that are coordinated in a "belt and suspenders" approach. Among other things, the proprietary system closely monitors geographic exposures, sector exposures, drawdowns, and stop-loss limits / policies. This process is supported by an internal team of software developers and IT professionals. The process is rigorous, consistent and documented, yet flexible enough to add new functionality and dimensions to it. The Risk Management team reports to Optima's CFO and has veto power over investment decisions.

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