HOME ABOUT PMDB BECOME A MEMBER CONTACT
   

The purpose of PMDB-Online within ECOFIN's search process
The information acquired via PMDB-Online is used to generate our short lists. In this first stage this is the only use of the data, i.e. it is neither disclosed directly to the side of investors nor to the general public.

Quality of ECOFIN searches
 Of course the quality of our searches shall not be diminished by standardized or automated searches. ECOFIN will continue to add value to your information by matching it to the specific needs of our customers, utilizing our long-term experience. After creating a short list based on PMDB-Online a rigorous RfP (Request for Proposal) process follows. In case one of your products has been shortlisted you will be asked for submitting a proposal. In order to save both you and us time the information already provided in our database is considered an integral part of the proposal. Hence the number of questions in the proposal can be reduced considerably. For instance it will not be necessary any longer to provide performance data again. Of course it is a prerequisite for this more convenient procedure that your data in PMDB-Online is up-to date and accurate. In our request for proposal we will explicitly ask you to check your data with respect to the actual tender.

Terms and Conditions for the use of PMDB-Online

PMDB-Online was created by ECOFIN for investment managers to provide data on their companies and products. The information acquired via PMDB-Online is used to generate short lists on behalf of ECOFIN's customers, i.e. institutional investors. At present this site is only accessible by investment managers that have been assigned a user name and a password by ECOFIN.

Registration fee and product fee
 To cover our administrative costs, a fee is charged from each investment manager participating in PMDB-Online.
There is a registration fee, covering information on your company and on two investment products. A product fee is charged per additional investment product. The amount of the registration fee is 1200 CHF per year and for one additional investment product 360 CHF per year. For the first year the charge is calculated on a pro rata basis per the end of the year and is rounded up to whole months. For instance, if you register in PMDB-Online on 12 May 2006 with one product, you would be charged 800 CHF for the remainder of 2006, i.e. for 8 months. The same procedure applies to individual investment products. After you have applied and qualified for membership in PMDB-Online you will receive your user name and password. Thereafter you may enter and modify data in PMDB-Online and you will be asked to pay the according fee.

The calculation of your fee is automatically performed online. If we do not receive notice of your payment within one month we will send you a reminder of payment and eventually access will be denied unless ECOFIN receives notice of payment.

Expiration of registration
 At the end of each calendar year you will be reminded by email that your registration will we transferred to the following year. Your company and product data will be kept in PMDB-Online automatically. Again we will kindly ask you to pay the fee within one month. The same procedure applies if you enter an additional investment product. Paying fees on time does not have an influence on your participation in searches. Once you have entered your company data and at least data for one investment product, you may participate in an ongoing tender.

Deletion of products or company data
 You may delete your product or company data any time. Nonetheless, if you do so after payment of the fee, there will be no refund. Furthermore, any due payments will remain oustanding if you delete any or all of your product data after the due date e.g. 30 days after product registration in PMDB-Online.
As a member of PMDB-Online your investment products automatically will be included in all searches done by ECOFIN.

Privacy and Security

PMDB-Online allows investment managers to enter and update information on their companies, investment products and personal data. Provided that the systems work properly you are able to insert, modify, read, and delete your data online at any time.

Use of your IP address
 We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server, and to administer our web site. Your IP address is used to gather broad demographic information. For the time being we do not use any cookies. The only use of the data is to create our shortlists on behalf of our customers, i.e. institutional investors such as pension plans. Otherwise all information we acquire through PMDB-Online will be kept strictly confidential.

Security
 This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. Our servers are monitored continuously and protected by strict security controls. Notwithstanding the above, the use of the Internet in order to transmit data between you and us is solely at your own risk and is subject to applicable national and international laws and regulations. While ECOFIN has endeavored to create a secure and reliable site, please be aware that the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted to/from this site over the Internet cannot be guaranteed.
For more private communication users may contact ECOFIN.

Operational procedures of PMDB-Online


How to apply for membership
 From the login page (www.pmdb-online.ch) follow the link "Apply", fill the data in the form and within two working days you will be assigned a user name and a password by ECOFIN. Immediately thereafter you are enabled to enter your data, review, delete or modify it.

Accuracy of data
 Hence, investment managers solely are responsible for the accuracy of the data. ECOFIN does not alter your data. We may perform certain plausibility checks and upon noticing data that is missing or likely to be flawed we may notify you by email and ask you to double-check the accuracy of your data.

How to pay
 In order to pay the registration fee (covering company information and information on two investment products) and/or the fee for additional products you simply click on the pay-button on the overview page. This page gives you an overview on all your products in PMDB-Online and their payment status. Upon clicking on the pay button you will be referred to the site of SAFERPAY (www.saferpay.ch), who handles settlement of payment and uses SSL.

Payments with credit cards
 Payments can be made by using the following credit cards: Visa, Euro/Master, and American Express.

How to fill in the questionnaire

The online questionnaire is twofold: one part covers information on the company, and the other on investment products.

Company forms
 The questionnaire on the company is split into two forms (scrollable screens), and the questionnaire on products into eight (two qualitative forms and six performance forms).

Product forms
 At the moment there are four types of products that can be entered into PMDB-Online: equity-type products (including real estate) and fixed income products; for both of these product categories there is a questionnaire for actively and passively managed products.

When filing company or product data you may submit it by clicking on the submit button at the bottom of the form every 15 minutes at least . Provided all entered data complies with the required formats, your data is saved in the database and you may proceed with editing other forms. If one or several of your entries are not consistent with the required formats you will be prompted accordingly. Some questions can be answered by marking several fields (multiple choice), other questions require single choice answers. Single choice questions are indicated as such. You will recognize them by the fact that you can only fill in one field at a time: as soon as you try to mark a second field the first entrance is deleted. For decimal separation please use a period, not a comma. Please do not use any separations for thousands. You must not enter any percentage signs; the entrance requires merely a number. In order to reduce formatting problems rates of change are expressed in basis points (BP) where meaningful.

Performance data
 One very time consuming task in questionnaires like ours is the filing of performance data. As some of you suggested in previous discussions, our site provides two ways to enter performance data: Firstly, you may use the preset table and enter number by number in the according fields. This is the more laborious way and it is not recommended in case you want to enter a long track record for the first time. However, this way is convenient if you merely want to update your performance data.

How to copy performance data from your Excel-Sheet
 Secondly, you may use an Excel-Sheet. Copy your data for an entire year and paste it into the large empty field in the questionnaire. This procedure is to be applied to each year. Notwithstanding the seeming convenience of this second procedure great care has to be taken with respect to the formats in Excel. Data has to be extracted from an Excel Sheet with the dimension 4 x 12 (in the horizontal axis: portfolio performance, benchmark performance, value of assets in the composite and number of accounts in the composite; in the vertical axis: 12 months). Furthermore, copy-paste needs be done in one single action per year. For instance, copying the column for performance first, pasting it to the entrance field and afterwards copying and pasting the according values of assets would not work. There is a help file available online that provides specific information on the individual questions.

Future of PMDB-Online
In future, we intend to use PMDB-Online also for other goals that help to select and market your products for our customers more efficiently, and to enhance communication between all involved parties. Parts of PMDB-Online and certain reports may be disclosed to the side of investors. We may offer links to your sites in order to enable investors to get a more thorough and direct picture of your company. With respect to extensions and improvements of PMDB-Online we very much welcome your comments and suggestions.