GLOBAL INVESTOR CLIENT ACCESS SYSTEM

Abstract: A method for providing investment information to a user, comprising the acts of: establishing access to at least one information database which contains investment information concerning investment vehicles, the investment information including accounting information, news information, Compliance Information, and performance information; maintaining an electronic site on a network to which the user may connect; and transmitting an electronic screen to the user over the network which contains at least one of: (i) the investment information; and (ii) at least one link to the investment information in response to a user request.

Description: GLOBAL INVESTOR CLIENT ACCESS SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an investor services method and apparatus for providing institutional investors with information concerning accounting, custody, securities leading, Performance Data, Compliance Information, and market news. The present invention preferably utilizes a network, for example, the Internet to distribute the information and permit the institutional investor to manipulate the information as desired. 2. Related Art Institutional investors and plan sponsors (such as pension plan managers) have traditionally been interested in periodically obtaining information on the accounting, custody, Securities Lending, compliance, and Performance Data for their portfolios. Such information has heretofore been obtained on a monthly basis and has typically been transmitted to the investors/managers, for example, via facsimile, mail, or electronic billboard (such as on a network). Unfortunately, these conventional reports have several disadvantages, namely, they provide data for only one point in time (i.e., during the relevant month). Thus, the investor/manager is not provided with historical information on accounting, performance, etc., for example, a time series of data that may be presented in a chart format. Indeed, the static "snap shot" of data provided in these conventional reports does not provide the investors/managers with information as to performance trends of the portfolios which may be utilized to determine whether the holdings in the portfolio should be modified. Further, these reports do not provide data on an intraday basis, rather, they provide information in overnight batch form. Still further, prior art systems have not provided institutional investors with the ability to manipulate the information, e.g., sorting the information by Country Exposure, Currency Exposure, Segments, categories, sectors, industries, Income Receivables, purchase/sales, etc. Significantly, the prior art systems have not provided information which includes accounting data, custody data, Securities Lending data, Performance Data compliance data, and market news at one electronically accessible location. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a novel investor services method and/or system which provides institutional investors and/or portfolio managers with manipulatable information concerning accounting data, custody data, Securities Lending data, compliance data, Performance Data, and market news on an intraday basis over an electronic network. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art the present invention provides a method and apparatus for providing investment information to a user. Broadly, the method comprises the acts of: establishing access to at least one information database which contains investment information concerning investment vehicles, the investment information including accounting information, news information, Compliance Information, and performance information; maintaining an electronic site on a network to which the user may connect; and transmitting an electronic screen to the user over the network which contains at least one of: (i) the investment information; and (ii) at least one link to the investment information in response to a user request. The invention also includes a computerized information management system to implement the method of the invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING For the purposes of illustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawing, forms which are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a site map of the present invention; Figs. 2-34 are illustrations of electronic screens by which a user of the present invention requests and receives information; and Fig. 35 is a block diagram illustrating a system capable of carrying out the features of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION In a preferred embodiment, users (e.g., institutional investors, portfolio managers, etc.) access the present invention through the World Wide Web on a computer network, for example, the Internet, using a conventional Web browser such and the Microsoft® Internet Explorer. Fig. 1 is a site map showing various features and functions which are available. When the Website is accessed, the user's monitor displays a home page 100. From this, the user may access four broad categories of information, namely, Views and Reporting 200, News and Reporting 300, Compliance Information 400, and Performance Data 500. The user accesses these categories (or modules) of information by entering a command at the home page 100 using any of the known techniques, for example, by using the keyboard or mouse to activate an icon, a hyperlink, or typing a command into a dialog box. An example home page is illustrated in Fig. 1 A. Views and Reporting Within the Views and Reporting module 200, a plurality of broad categories of reports for one or more portfolios of investments are available. Still referring to Fig. 1, the categories of reports within this module may include Accounting Holdings 210, Accounting Transactions 230, Custody Holdings 250, Custody Transactions 270, and Securities Lending 290. When the Views and Reporting module is selected from home page 100, a screen appears on the user's monitor containing information and icons by which further types of reports may be generated. An example of such a screen is shown in Fig. 2. Here, Views and Reporting Module screen 211 is comprised of a left side 212 which contains buttons corresponding to each of the Views and Reporting module categories and a right side 213 which presents a listing of available reports selected by the user, as described below. It should be understood that when screen 211 first appears, right side 213 may be empty, and left side 212 may show only the buttons for main categories 210, 230, 250, 270 and 290. Accounting - Holdings As shown in Fig. 2, when the Accounting - Holdings category 210 is selected, a drop-down list 215 appears showing the categories of reports which may be generated. These may include Country Exposure reports 214, Currency Exposure reports 216, Exposure Analysis reports 218, Income Receivable reports 220, Net Asset Value reports 222, Sector/Industry Exposure reports 224, Security Detail reports 226, Segment/Category Exposure reports 228, and Top Holdings reports 229. To generate specific reports, the user begins by selecting the desired sub-category. This may be done, for example, by highlighting the desired item in list 215. For example, if the Country Exposure category 214 is selected, an electronic screen 800 such as illustrated in Fig. 3 appears. This may be a query form created with any conventional or desired data base technology and is set up to allow the user to select data fields to be included one or more Country Exposure reports. Data fields may be selected in various conventional ways. For example, an As of Date may be entered using a text box 802. A Compare Date specified, a Currency type, a Country identification, a Segment type and a Category type may be entered from respective drop-down lists 804, 806, 808, 810 and 812. One or more Report types (e.g., Summary, and/or Country Detail), and one or more Data Display types (e.g., Region, and/or Account), may be selected by means of respective non exclusive radio button pairs 814 and 816. As will be understood, other fields may be included if desired, for example, "All" in the Currency, Segment, Country and Category fields . After completing the selection, the user clicks on Process button 820, and screen 220 (Fig. 2) reappears. Here, the available report types based on the user's selection in screen 800 (Fig. 3) are listed in the viewing window 213. Based on the example selection, the list includes reports showing Country Exposure Detail By Account (report 214a), Country Exposure Detail by Region (report 214b), Country Exposure Summary By Account (report 214c), and Country Exposure Summary By Region (report 214d). As will be appreciated, four reports for Country Exposure (214a, 214b, 214c, and 214d) are produced because two Report types (i.e., Summary and Country Detail) and two Display Data methods (i.e., Region/Country and Account) were selected in screen 800. In the example shown, "All" was selected from the Currency, Countries, Segments and Categories lists. Therefore, all Currency, Countries, Segments and Categories will appear in the reports. The reports will be current through the "As Of date. If a Compare Date specified is entered on query form 800, percentage changes in Net Asset Value between the Compare Date specified and the As of Date will be displayed in the reports. The inclusion (or omission) of a Compare Date specified yields four more possible Country Exposure reports. In accordance with the invention, the assets of a particular portfolio may be classified by four general attributes, namely, Segments, categories, sectors, and/or industries. Assets which may be found in the Segment category may include equities, fixed income instruments, cash equivalents, short term investments, alternative investments and/or miscellaneous assets. Assets which may be found in the category classification may include common stock, preferred stock, government bonds, futures, treasury bills, etc. Thus, Segment/category classifications may include equities/common stock, fixed income/government bonds, derivatives/futures, cash equivalents, treasury, etc. Assets in the sector category may include, for example, capital equipment, municipal bonds, etc. Assets in the industry classification may include, for example, aerospace, revenue bonds, etc. Listed below are the preferred fields for the Country Exposure Detail By Account report 214a for the cases in which a Compare Date specified is and is not provided: Compare Date specified Selected (For Each Account Name) • Subtotals of Net Asset Value on the Compare Date specified, Subtotals of Net Asset Value on the As of Date • Percentage Change of Net Asset Value from the Compare Date specified to the As of Date (per Subtotal) • Grand Totals of Net Asset Value on the Compare Date specified • Grand Totals of Net Asset Value on As of Date • Grand Total Percentage Change No Compare Date specified Selected (For Each Account Name) • Region • Country Subtotals (by account and region): • Book Value • Net Asset Value (unrealized, percentage unrealized, and percentage of total). Grand Totals: • Book Value ► Net Asset Value (unrealized, percentage unrealized, and percentage of total) Country Exposure Detail by region reports 214b preferably include substantially the same data as reports under s;ub-category 214a, but organized by region and/or country. The Country Exposure Summary reports 214c and 214d preferably include a summary of the data provided in the detail reports 214a, 214b. Advantageously, Country Exposure reports also include information on the percentage of Net Asset Value for a particular portfolio which is invested in any particular country or region. Among other reasons, the Country Exposure reports are useful in illustrating the concentration of assets in a portfolio allocated in various countries of risk. Fig. 4 shows an example of a Country Exposure Detail By Account report 214a. The Region (by continent), Country and Asset Value in each Region/Country is shown for each account for the As of Date, here, August 1, 1998. Also shown are a Compare Date specified of July 1, 1998 and a Percentage Change of Net Asset Value from July 1, 1998 to August 1, 1998. Samples of reports 214b, 214c, and 214d are not illustrated, as those skilled in the art will readily recognize how such reports are structured based on the foregoing description. With reference again to Fig. 2, if the Currency Exposure category 216 in drop-down list 215 is selected, a report creation screen 830 such as illustrated in Fig. 5 appears. The available data fields include an As of Date field, for which data is entered using a text box 832 and Compare Date specified, Currency, Segment and Category fields, for which data may be entered from respective drop-down lists 834, 836, 838 and 840. In addition, Report types (e.g., Summary, and/or Segment Detail), and Data Display types (e.g., Currency and/or Account), may be selected by respective non exclusive radio button pairs 844 and 846. Again, as will be understood, other fields may be included if desired, and default values may be provided. After completing the selection, the user clicks on Process button 850, and the desired reports are generated. A screen similar to 220 (see Fig. 2) appears with the list of reports generated on the viewing side (corresponding to reference 213 on screen 220). Depending on whether one or both of the Report type and Data Display type radio buttons are selected, the following eight types of reports may be generated: ► Currency Exposure Summary by Currency type (with or without Compare Date specified) ► Currency Exposure Summary By Account (with or without Compare Date specified) ► Currency Exposure Segment Detail by currency (with or without Compare Date specified) ► Currency Exposure Segment Detail By Account (with or without Compare Date specified). For the data selections shown in Fig. 5, a Currency Exposure Summary By Currency, without comparison to earlier data would be generated. All currencies, Segments, and categories would appear in the report. The eightCurrency Exposure reports identified above preferably include some or all of the following data fields: Currency Exposure Summary By Currency (Compare Date specified specified) ► Currency type ► Compare Date specified Net Asset Value (local and base) ► As of Date Net Asset Value (local and base) ► Percentage Change in Net Asset Value from Compare Date specified to As of Date Currency Exposure Summary By Currency (no Compare Date specified specified) ► Currency type ► Cost (local and base) ► Net Asset Value (local and base) ► Unrealized Gain/Loss (local and base) ► Percentage Unrealized Gain/Loss ► Percentage of Total Net Asset Value (base) Currency Exposure Summary By Account (Compare Date specified specified) * ■ Account Name ► Account Number ► Currency type ► Compare Date specified Net Asset Value (local and base) ► As of Date Net Asset Value (local and base) ► Percentage Change Net Asset Value Currency Exposure Summary By Account (no Compare Date specified specified) * ■ Account Name ► Account Number ► Currency type ► Net Asset Cost (local and base) ► Net Asset Value (local and base) ► Unrealized Gain/Loss (local and base) ► Percentage Unrealized Gain/Loss ► Percentage Total Net Asset Value (base) Currency Exposure By Currency /Segment (Compare Date specified specified) ► Currency type ► Segment type ► Compare Date specified Market Value (local and base) ► As of Date Market Value (local and base) ► Percentage Change Market Value Currency Exposure By Currency/Segment (no Compare Date specified specified) * ■ Currency type ► Segment type ► Cost Value (local and base) ► Market Value (local and base) ► Unrealized Gain/Loss (local and base) ► Percentage Unrealized Gain/Loss ► Percentage Of Total Currency Exposure Segment Detail By Account (Compare Date specified specified) ► Account Name ► Account Number ► Currency type ► Segment type ► Compare Date specified Market Value (local and base) ► As of Date Market Value (local and base) ► Percentage Change Market Value Currency Exposure Segment Detail By Account (no Compare Date specified specified) Account Name Account Number Currency type Segment type Cost Value (local and base) Market Value (local and base) Unrealized Gain/Loss (local and base) Percentage Unrealized Gain/Loss (local and base) Percentage of Total Those skilled in the art will recognize that the above-listed reports are sorted by at least one of currency, Segment, and category. Subtotals and grand totals may preferably be provided for the above listed fields. Advantageously, these reports are useful in illustrating the concentration of certain currencies in a particular portfolio, thereby providing a user with information as to risks associated with those currencies. With reference again to Fig. 2, if the Exposure Analysis category 218 in drop-down list 215 is selected, an Exposure Analysis report creation screen 870 appears such as illustrated in Fig. 6. The available data fields include an As of Date field, for which data may be entered using a text box 872, and Currency, Segment and Country fields, for which data may be entered from respective drop-down lists 874, 876 and 878. Summary by Country and/or Summary by Account type reports may be selected by non exclusive radio button pair 880. Again, as will be understood, other fields may be included if desired, and default values may be provided for one or more of the fields. After completing the selection, the user clicks on Process button 882, and the desired reports are generated. A screen similar to 220 (see Fig. 2) appears with the list of reports generated on the viewing side (corresponding to reference 213 on screen 220). For the data selections shown in Fig. 5, only a Summary By Country report would be listed. Data would be presented as of 10-Jul-1998 for all currencies, all countries and all Segments. The two types of Exposure Analysis reports preferably include some or all of the following data fields: Exposure Analysis Summary By Country * ■ Market Value (For Each Country and Segment) ► Percentage of Total Market Value (For Each Country and Segment) ► Total Market Value (For All Countries and Segments) Exposure Analysis Summary By Account ► Total Market Value Listed Separately by Account Name and Number ► Total Market Value By Segment ► Percentage of Total Market Value By Segment Preferably, the user may sort this information by at least one of the country and account. Subtotals and/or grand totals may be provided for at least some of the fields. With reference again to Fig. 2, if the Income Receivable category 220 in drop-down list 215 is selected, a report creation screen 900 appears such as illustrated in Fig. 7. The available data fields include an As of Date field, for which data may entered using a text box 902 or a pop-up calendar 904, and Currency and Security Id fields, for which data may be entered from respective drop-down lists 906 and 908. Report types and Display modes are selected by radio button sets 910 and 912, respectively. Again, as will be understood, other fields may be included if desired, and default values may be provided for some fields such as As of Date and Currency. The following report types are available: ► Income Receivable by currency (selected by radio button 910a) ► Income Receivable by account/currency (selected by radio button 910b) ► Income Receivable by Security/payable date (selected by radio button 910c) Radio buttons 910a, 190b and 910c are preferably non-exclusive to permit one or more of the listed report types to be generated together. Currency values may be displayed as follows: ► By Local Currency Only (selected by radio button 912a) ► By Base Currency Only (selected by radio button 910b) ► By Local and Base Currency (selected by radio button 910c) In the embodiment illustrated, these are mutually exclusive selections, but it will be appreciated that two non-exclusive buttons for Local Currency and Base Currency would achieve the same result. After completing the selection, the user clicks on Process button 914, and the selected reports are generated. A screen similar to 220 (see Fig. 2) appears with the list of reports generated on the viewing side (corresponding to reference 213 on screen 220). The three types of reports listed above preferably all include some or all of the following data fields: ► Income ► Currency Code ► Account Name ► Account Number ► Security Name ► Security ID ► Ex Date ► Payable Date ► Accrued Income Gross ► Accrued Income Past Due ► Withholding Tax ► Tax Reclaim Accrual ► Net Income Due ► Exchange Rate The data in currency fields may be displayed in local and/or base currency, depending on the user's selection of radio buttons 912. The reported data may advantageously be sorted by currency, payable date, Account Name, or Security Name or by a combination of these fields. Most useful results are obtained, however, if the reports are sorted as follows: Income Receivable By Currency * ■ By currency and ► Payable Date Income Receivable By Account/Currency * ■ By Account Name ► Currency and ► Payable Date Income Receivable By Security/Payable Date * ■ By Security Name, and ► Payable Date With reference again to Fig. 2, if the Net Asset Value category 222 in drop-down list 215 is selected, a report creation screen 930 appears such as illustrated in Fig. 8. The available data fields include an As of Date field, for which data may entered using a text box 932 or a pop-up calendar 934, and a Compare Date specified field, for which data may be entered from drop-down list 936. Available Report types (e.g., Summary and Account) are selected by nonexclusive radio button set 938. Again, as will be understood, other fields may be included if desired, and default values, for example, of the As of Date may be provided. The following four report types are available: Net Asset Value Summary (Compare Date specified specified) Net Asset Value Summary (Compare Date specified specified) Net Asset Value By Account (with Compare Date specified) Net Asset Value by Account (no Compare Date specified specified) The four types of reports listed above preferably include some or all of the following data fields: Net Asset Value Summary (Compare Date specified specified) Compare Date specified Net Asset Value (base) ► As of Net Asset Value (base) ► Percentage Change Net Asset Value (base) Net Asset Value Summary (No Compare Date specified specified) ► Cost (base) ► Net Asset Value (base) ► Unrealized Gain/Loss (base) ► Percentage Unrealized Gain/Loss (base.) Net Asset Value By Account (Compare Date specified specified) * ■ Account Name ► Account Number * ■ Compare Date specified Net Asset Value (base) * ■ As of Net Asset Value (base) ► Percentage Change Net Asset Value (base ) Net Asset Value by Account (no Compare Date specified specified) ► Account Name * ■ Account Number ► Cost (base) ► Net Asset Value (base) ► Unrealized Gain/Loss (base) ► Percentage Unrealized (base) * ■ Percentage of Total (base) Preferably, the user may sort the above information by at least the Account Name. The reports preferably show Grand Totals for the Compare Date specified Net Asset Value, the As of Net Asset Value, Percentage Change Net Asset Value, Net Asset Value (cost), Net Asset Value (market), Unrealized Gain/Loss (base) and Percentage Unrealized Gain/Loss (base) data. After completing the selection, the user clicks on Process button 938, and the selected reports are generated. A screen similar to 220 (see Fig. 2) appears with the list of reports generated on the viewing side (corresponding to reference 213 on screen 220). With reference again to Fig. 2, if the Sector/Industry category 224 in drop-down list 215 is selected, a Report creation screen 950 appears such as illustrated in Fig. 9. The available data fields include an As of Date field, for which data may entered using a text box 952, and Compare Date specified, Currency, Country, Segment, Sector and Industry fields, for which data may be entered from respective drop-down lists 954, 956, 958, 960, 962 and 964. Report types (e.g., Summary and Account Detail) and Data Display modes (e.g., Sector and Industry ) are selected by non-exclusive radio button sets 966 and 968. Again, as will be understood, other fields may be included if desired, and default values may be provided for some of the fields such as As of Date, Currency, etc. After completing the selection, the user clicks on Process button 970, and the selected Reports are generated. A screen similar to 220 (see Fig. 2) appears with the list of Reports generated on the viewing side (corresponding to reference 213 on screen 220). Depending on which of the Report type and Data Display type radio buttons are selected, the following eight types of Reports may be generated: ► Sector/Industry Summary By Sector (with and without Compare Date specified specified) ► Sector/Industry Summary By Industry (with and without Compare Date specified specified ) ► Sector/Industry Account Detail By Sector (with and without Compare Date specified Specified) ► Sector/Industry Account Detail By Industry (with and without Compare Date specified Specified). For the data selections shown in Fig. 9, a Sector/Industry Exposure Summary By Sector, without comparison to earlier data would be generated, as of 10-July-1998. All currencies, Countries, Segments, Sectors and Industry categories would appear in the Report. The eight Sector/Industry Exposure Reports identified above preferably include some or all of the following data fields: Sector/Industry Exposure Summary By Sector (Compare Date specified Specified) ► Sector ► Compare Date specified Market Value (base) ► As of Date Market Value (base) ► Percentage Change (base) Sector/Industry Exposure Summary By Sector (No Compare Date specified Specified) * ■ Sector ► Cost (base) ► Market Value (base) ► Unrealized Gain/Loss (base) ► Percentage Unrealized (base) ► Percentage Value (base). Sector /Industry Exposure Summary By Industry (with and without Compare Date specified Specified) ► Same information as Summary By Sector (Compare Date specified Specified) ► Industry Information Sector/Industry Exposure Account Detail By Sector (Compare Date specified Specified) ► Account Name ► Account Number ► Sector ► Compare Date specified Market Value (base) ► As of Date Market Value (base) ► Percentage Change (base). Sector/Industry Exposure Account Detail By Sector (No Compare Date specified Specified) * ■ Account Name ► Account Number ► Sector ► Cost (base) ► Market Value (base) ► Unrealized (base) ► Percentage Unrealized (base) ► Percentage of Total (base). Sector/Industry Exposure Account Detail By Industry (with and without Compare Date specified Specified) ► Same information as Account Detail by Sector (with and without Compare Date specified Specified) ► Industry information The user may preferably sort the above information by at least one of the sector, the industry, and the Account Name. It is preferred that (i) the Sector Summary Reports be sortable by sector; (ii) the Industry Summary Reports be sortable by at least one of the Sector and Industry; (iii) the Account Detail By Sector reports be sortable by at least one of the Account Name, and Ssector; and (iv) the Account Detail By Industry reports be sortable by at least one of the Account Name, the Sector and Industry . The Sector/Industry Reports preferably include subtotals and grand totals for at least some of the fields, for example, grand totals for each field in the Sector Summary Reports; a subtotal for each field of each Sector in the Industry Summary Reports; subtotals for each field of each Account in the Account Detail By Sector Reports; and subtotals of each field for each Account and Sector in the Account Detail By Industry Reports. With reference again to Fig. 2, if the Security Detail category 226 in drop-down list 215 is selected, a Report creation screen 1000 appears such as illustrated in Fig. 10. The available data fields include an As of Date field, for which data may entered using a text box 1002, and Compare Date specified, Currency, Country, Segment, Category, Sector and Industry fields, for which data may be entered from respective drop-down lists 1004, 1006, 1008, 1010, 1012, 1014 and 1016. Data sort order rules for the reports (e.g., Security Name/ Account or Account/Security Name), and Currency Display Format (e.g., local values only, and local and base values) are selected by non-exclusive radio button sets 1018 and 1020. In addition, an issue look-up dialog box 1022 is provided by which several letters (or the entire name) of a Security may be entered and accessed by activating a "look-up" icon 1024. Again, as will be understood, other fields may be included if desired, and default values may be provided for some of the fields such as As of Date, Currency, Country, etc. After completing the selection, the user clicks on Process button 1026, and the selected Reports are generated. A screen similar to 220 (see Fig. 2) appears with the list of Reports generated on the viewing side (corresponding to reference 213 on screen 220). Depending on which of the Sort Order Rules radio buttons are selected, the following four types of Reports may be generated: ► Security Detail By Security /Account (with and without Compare Date specified) ► Security Detail By Account/Security (with and without Compare Date specified) For the data selections shown in Fig. 10, a report would be generated, with data sorted by Security Name and Account, and displaying currency in Local Values only, as of 10-July-1998. All currencies, Countries, Segments, Categories, Sectors and Industries would appear in the Report. The Security Detail Reports identified above preferably include some or all of the following data fields: Security Detail by Security/Account (with Compare Date specified) ► Security Name ► Account Name ► Account Number ► Security ID ► Segment ► category ► sector ► industry ► currency ► shares/units ► price local ► Compare Date specified market value (local and/or base) ► As of Date market value (local and/or base) ► percentage change market value (local and/or base). Security Detail by Security/ Account report be sortable by Security Name, and Account Name and that grand totals be provided for each base field, such as compare market value base, as of market value base, and percentage change market value base. Security Detail by account/Security (with Compare Date specified) report includes substantially the same information as the Security/ Account (with Compare Date specified) report, it being understood that this report be sortable by Account Name, and then Security Name. Further, it is preferred that the Security Detail by account/Security (with Compare Date specified) report include grand totals for base fields, such as compare market value base, as of market value base, and percentage change market value base. Security Detail by Security/Account (without Compare Date specified Security Name Account NameAccount Number Security ID Segment category sector industry currency shares/units price local Book Value (local and/or base) market value (local and/or base) accrued income gross (local and/or base) unrealized gain/loss (local and/or base), percentage unrealized gain/loss (local and/or base) percentage of total portfolio, total shares outstanding percentage of shares held. Preferably, this report is sortable by Security Name, and then Account Name. Grand totals are preferably provided in the report for base fields, such as Book Value base, market value base, accrued income base, unrealized gain/loss base, and percentage unrealized base. Security Detail by account/Security (without Compare Date specified) contains substantially the same information (fields) as the Security/ Account (without Compare Date specified) report, it being understood that this report is sortable by Security Name, and then Account Name. Grand totals are preferably provided for base fields, such as Book Value base, market value base, accrued income base, unrealized gain/loss base, and percentage unrealized base. With reference to Fig. 2, when the user highlights the Segment/Category Exposure category 228 within the pop-down screen 212, a number of available Report types are preferably listed in the viewing window (not shown for simplicity). These reports preferably include Segment/Category Exposure summary by Segment (with and/or without compare), Segment/Category Exposure by account (with and/or without Compare Date specified), Segment/Category Exposure Security Detail by Segment (with and/or without Compare Date specified), and Segment/Category Exposure Security Detail by account (with and/or without Compare Date specified). The Segment/Category Exposure reports are preferably produced in response instructions provided by the user. With reference to Fig. 11, the user is preferably presented with an electronic screen into which at least some of the following information may be entered: an As of Date, a Compare Date specified (optional), types of Security, countries, Segments, categories, display data (e.g., Segment, and/or account), and type of report (e.g., summary and/or Security Detail). The user may also retrieve a particular issue (Security) by entering one or more letters of a Security Name (or the entire Security Name) in an issue lookup dialog box and executing a "look-up" icon. It is preferred that the Segment/Category Exposure summary by Segment (with Compare Date specified) report include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): Segment, category, Compare Date specified market value base, As of Date market value base, and percentage change market value base. If the user has not included a category, it is preferred that this information be sorted by Segment: however, if the user has selected a category, it is preferred that the information be sorted by Segment and category. Preferably, the Segment/Category Exposure summary by account (with Compare Date specified) report include at least one of the Account Name, Account Number, and substantially the same information contained in the summary by Segment (with Compare Date specified) report. Preferably, the summary by account (with Compare Date specified) report is sortable by account, Segment, and category (if selected). It is preferred that the Segment/Category Exposure summary by Segment (without Compare Date specified) report include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): Segment, category, Book Value base, market value base, unrealized gain/loss base, percentage unrealized gain/loss base, and percentage of total market value base. Preferably, this information is sortable by Segment if the user has not included a category; however, the information is preferably sorted by Segment and category if the user has selected a category. Preferably, the Segment/Category Exposure summary by account (without Compare Date specified) report includes the Account Name, Account Number, and substantially the same information contained in the summary by Segment (without Compare Date specified) report. Preferably, the summary by account (without Compare Date specified) report is sortable by account, Segment, and category (if selected). It is preferred that the Segment/Category Exposure detail by Segment (with Compare Date specified) report include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): Segment, category, Account Name, Account Number, currency, Security Name, shares/units, price local, Compare Date specified market value (local and/or base), As of Date market value (local and/or base), and percentage change market value (local and/or base). Preferably, this information is sortable by Segment, category, and/or Security Name. Preferably, the Segment/Category Exposure detail by account (with Compare Date specified) includes substantially the same information as contained in the exposure detail by Segment (with Compare Date specified) report, it being understood, however, that this information is sortable by account, Segment, category, and Security Name. Preferably, the Segment/Category Exposure detail by Segment (without Compare Date specified) report include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): Segment, category, Account Name, Account Number, currency, Security Name, shares/units, price local, Book Value (local and or base), market value (local and/or base), accrued income gross (local and/or base), unrealized gain/loss (local and/or base), and percentage unrealized gain/loss (local and/or base). Preferably, this information is sortable by Segment, category, and Security Name. The Segment/Category Exposure detail by account (without Compare Date specified) report preferably includes substantially the same information contained in the exposure detail by Segment (without Compare Date specified) report, it being understood, however, that this information is sortable by account, Segment, category, and Security Name. With reference to Fig. 2, when the user highlights the Top Holdings category 229 within the pop-down screen 212, a number of available Report types are preferably listed in the viewing window (not shown for simplicity). These reports preferably include Top Holdings summary, and Top Holdings detail. The Top Holdings reports are preferably produced in response to instructions provided by the user. With reference to Fig. 12, the user is preferably presented with an electronic screen into which at least some of the following information may be entered: an As of Date, types of currency, countries, Segments, categories, type of report, e.g., summary, and/or detail), and a number of holdings to display (e.g., 10 holdings). The Top Holdings summary report preferably includes at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): rank, shares/units, Security ID, Security Name, market value base, percentage of total portfolio, currency, country of risk, Segment, and category. This information is preferably sorted by market value base. The Top Holdings detail report preferably includes the Account Name, Account Number, and substantially the same information as provided in the Top Holdings summary report. The Top Holdings detail report information is preferably sortable by market value base. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the electronic screens shown in Figs. 3, and 5-12 include executable icons labeled ACCOUNTS, CRITERIA, SPREADSHEET, and GRAPH which preferably provide hyperlinks to other electronic screens. For example, the GRAPH icon preferably provides a graphical illustration of the underlying information of a particular report, while the SPREADSHEET icon preferably provides the information of a particular report in a known spreadsheet format. The ACCOUNTS icon when activated preferably provides an electronic screen to the user listing all of the user's accounts in a particular portfolio or portfolios. Accounting Transactions With reference to Fig. 13, when the Accounting Transactions icon 230 is activated, a pop-down screen 212 is preferably provided which lists categories of reports which may be accessed by the user. In particular, Broker Commission reports 304, Transaction Detail reports 306, Corporate Actions reports 308, Foreign Exchange reports 310, Futures and Options reports 312 and Purchase and Sales reports 314 are accessible, for example, by highlighting the desired report. When the user highlights the Broker Commission category 304 within the pop-down screen 212, a number of available Report types are preferably listed in the viewing window, for example, broker commission summary by account 304a, broker commission summary by broker 304b, broker commission detail by account 304c, broker commission detail by broker/currency 304d, broker commission detail by broker/trade date 304e, and broker commission detail by broker/transaction 304f. The broker commission reports 304a-304f are preferably produced in response to instructions provided by the user. With reference to Fig. 14, the user is preferably presented with an electronic screen into which at least some of the following information may be entered: a from date, a to date, a date selection (e.g., trade date, settlement date, effective date), types of currency, Transaction Types, brokers and type of report (e.g., summary and/or detail). Summary data may be specified as being by broker and/or by account/broker. Display detail data may be specified as being by account/broker, by broker/trade date, by broker/currency, and/or broker/Transaction Type. Display detail may also be specified in local currency only, base currency only, and/or local and base currency. A particular Security Name may be accessed by entering the first few letters of the Security Name (or the entire Security Name) in an issue look-up dialog box and executing a "look-up" icon. The broker commission summary by broker report 304b preferably includes at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): trading broker name, shares/units traded, commission expense base, principle amount base, average commission per share base, and percentage of principle base. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that average commission per share may be calculated by taking a ratio of the commission expense base and the shares/units traded (preferably carried out to three decimal places). The percentage of principle base may be calculated by taking a ratio of the total principle amount base (for a particular broker) and the total principle amount base (for all brokers). The above listed information is preferably sorted by broker. Grand totals are preferably provided in the report for the total-on commission expense base and principle amount base for all brokers. The broker commission summary by account 304a preferably includes at least one of the Account Name, Account Number and substantially the same information (or fields) as provided in the broker commission summary by broker report 304b, it being understood, however, that this information is preferably sorted by account and broker. Subtotals are preferably included in the report on commission expense base, principle amount base by account, average commission per share base, and percentage of principle base for each account. Grand totals are preferably included in the report on commission expense base, principle amount base by account, average commission per share base, and percentage of principle base for all accounts. The broker commission detail by account/broker report 304c preferably includes at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): Account Name, Account Number, trading broker name, detail Transaction Type, local currency, trade date, effective date, settlement date, shares/units traded, Security ID, Security Name short, principle amount local, commission expense local, average commission per share local, principle amount base, commission expense base, and average commission per share base. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a formula for calculating average commission per share base is the ratio of the commission expense base and the shares/units traded (preferably carried out to three decimal places). The average commission per share local may be calculated by taken a ratio of the commission expense local and the shares/units traded (preferably carried out to three decimal places). The above listed information is preferably sorted by account and broker. Subtotals are preferably included in the report on commission expense base and principle amount base by account. Grand totals are preferably included in the report on commission expense base and principle amount base for all accounts. The broker commission detail by broker/currency report 304d preferably includes substantially the same information (or fields) as in the broker commission detail by account/broker report 304c. The information, however, is preferably sorted by broker, currency, and trade date. Subtotals are preferably included in the report on local fields and base fields, if selected, where subtotals are provided by broker and currency. Grand totals are preferably included in the report on base fields only, if selected, for all currency. The broker commission detail by broker/trade date report 304e preferably includes substantially the same information (or fields) as provided in the broker commission detail by account/broker report 304c. Sorting of the information is preferably obtained by broker and trade date. Subtotals are preferably included in the report on commission expense base and principle amount base by broker. Grand totals are preferably included in the report on commission expense base and principle amount base for all brokers. The broker commission detail by broker/Transaction Type report 304f preferably includes substantially the same information (or fields) as provided in the broker commission detail by account/broker report 304c. Sorting of the information, however, is preferably obtained by broker, Transaction Type, and trade date. Subtotals are preferably provided in the report on base fields, if selected, by broker and Transaction Type. Grand totals are preferably provided in each report on base fields only, if selected, for all Transaction Types. With reference to Fig. 13, when the user highlights the Transaction Detail category 306 within the pop-down screen 212, a number of available Report types are preferably listed in the viewing window (not shown for simplicity). Preferably, there are sixteen transaction detail reports which may be obtained by the user, namely: (i) all detail transactions; (ii) income transactions; (iii) expense transactions; and/or (iv) non-principle cash transactions, sorted by (i) account/settlement date; (ii) settlement date; (iii) Transaction Type/settlement date; and/or (iv) currency/settlement date. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that examples of income transactions include dividend reinvestment, accumulated dividends, dividends, interest collected, etc. Examples of expense transactions include audit fees, commission expense investment manager fees, interest expense, other fees, etc. Examples of non-principle cash transactions include participant contribution, contribution withdrawal, leveraged asset contribution, etc. The Transaction Detail reports are preferably produced in response to instructions provided by the user. With reference to Fig. 15, the user is preferably presented with an electronic screen into which at least some of the following information may be entered: a from date, a to date, an indication of trade date, settlement date, and/or effective date, types of currencies, Transaction Type, and type of report (e.g., all detail transactions, income transactions, income transactions only, expense transactions only, and/or non-principle cash transaction). The user may also preferably indicate detail on the display of data, e.g., by account/settlement date, by settlement date, by Transaction Type/settlement date, and/or by currencies/settlement date. The user may also access a particular Security by inserting a few of the letters of the Security of interest (or the entire Security Name) in an issue look-up dialog box and executing a "look-up" icon. The transaction detail reports preferably include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): Account Name, Account Number, summary Transaction Type, trade date, effective date, settlement date, Security ID, Security Name short, shares/units traded, detail Transaction Type, local currency, net amount local, exchange rate, net amount base, transaction description 1, and transaction description 2. Preferably, the all detail transaction, income transaction, expense transaction and non-principle cash transaction reports by account/settlement date are sorted by account and settlement date. The all detail transaction, income transaction, expense transaction, and non-principle case transaction reports by settlement date are preferably sorted by settlement date and Account Name. The all detail transaction, income transaction, expense transaction, and non-principle cash transaction reports by Transaction Type/settlement date are preferably sorted by Transaction Type, detail Transaction Type and settlement date. And the all detail transaction, income transaction, expense transaction, and non- principle cash transaction reports by currencies/settlement date are preferably sorted by currencies and settlement date. With reference to Fig. 13, when the user highlights the Corporate Actions category 308 within the pop-down screen 212, a number of available Report types are preferably listed in the viewing window (not shown for simplicity). These reports preferably include corporation action detail by account/Transaction Type, corporate action detail by Transaction Type/account, and corporate action detail by currency/Transaction Type. The Corporate Actions reports are preferably produced in response to instructions provided by the user. With reference to Fig. 16, the user is preferably presented with an electronic screen into which at least some of the following information may be entered: a from date, a to date, an indication of payment date and/or Ex date, Currency type, and Transaction Type. The user also preferably identifies details as to how information in the reports is to be displayed, e.g., by account/Transaction Type, by Transaction Type/account, by currency/Transaction Type, local currency only, base currency only, and/or local and base currency. The user may access a particular Security Name by entering the first few letters of the Security Name (or the entire Security Name) in an issue look-up dialog box and executing a "look-up" executable icon. It is preferred that the corporate action detail reports include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): Account Name, Account Number, detail Transaction Type, Ex date, payable date, transaction description one, transaction description two, local currency, shares/units traded, cost local, net amount local, cost base, and net amount base. Preferably the corporate action detail by account/Transaction Type report are sorted by account and Transaction Type. The corporate action detail by Transaction Type/account are preferably sorted by Transaction Type, and then account. The corporate action detail by currency/Transaction Type reports are preferably sorted by currency and Transaction Type. Advantageously, the Corporate Actions reports list detail regarding mandatory and voluntary capital changes which affect a Security position in a given time frame and in a given account. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that capital changes are any action by an issuer of investments, or by another party in relation to the issuer, affecting an investor's entitlement to investments or benefits related to those investments. Examples of corporate action Transaction Types include stock dividends, stock splits, reverse bonuses, reverse splits, rights issuance, tender, partial call, and warrants exercise. With reference to Fig. 13, when the user highlights the Foreign Exchange category 310 within the pop-down screen 212, a number of available Report types are preferably listed in the viewing window (not shown for simplicity). These reports preferably include foreign change transactions by (i) account/trade date; (ii) Transaction Type/trade date; and (iii) currency/Security ID/trade date. The Foreign Exchange reports are preferably produced in response to instructions provided by the user. With reference to Fig. 17, the user is preferably presented with an electronic screen into which at least some of the following information may be entered: a from date, a to date, a selection as to trade date, settlement date, and/or effective date, Currency type, and Transaction Type. The user is preferably provided with the ability to specify how the data of the report is to be displayed, i.e., by account/trade date, by Transaction Types/trade date, and/or by currency/Security ID/trade date. The foreign exchange transaction reports preferably include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): Account Name, Account Number, detail Transaction Type, Security ID, local currency, trade date, settlement date, trading broker name, local price, net amount local, exchange rate, net amount base, and transaction reference number. The foreign exchange transactions by account/trade date reports are preferably sorted by account, Security ID, and trade date. The reports by Transaction Types/trade date are preferably sorted by Transaction Type and trade date. The foreign exchange transactions by currency/Security ID/trade date are preferably sorted by currency, Security ID, and trade date. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that examples of foreign exchange transactions include empire currency contract, purchase currency, close currency contract, cross cuπency sale, etc. With reference to Fig. 13, when the user highlights the Futures and Options category 312 within the pop-down screen 212, a number of available Report types are preferably listed in the viewing window (not shown for simplicity). These reports preferably include futures and options transactions by (i) account/Security ID; (ii) Security ID/trade date; (iii) trade date/Transaction Type; and (iv) and currency/Security ID. The Futures and Options reports are preferably produced in response to instructions provided by the user. With reference to Fig. 18, the user is preferably presented with an electronic screen into which at least some of the following information may be entered: a from date, a to date, a command to specify trade date, settlement date, and/or effective date, Currency type, Transaction Type, and broker. The user is preferably provided with the ability to specify how the details of the data are displayed in the report, e.g., by account/Security ID, by Security ID/trade date, by trade date/Transaction Type, by currency/Security, local currency only, base cuπency only, and/or local and base currency. The user is also preferably provided with the ability to access a particular Security by entering the first few letters of the Security Name (or the entire Security Name) in an issue look-up dialog box and executing a "look-up" icon. It is preferred that the Futures and Options transaction reports preferably include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): Account Name, Account Number, Security ID, Security Name short, detail Transaction Type, trade date, settlement date, trading broker name, contract size, shares/units traded, expiration date, local price, local currency, principle amount local, other fees local, commission expense local, net amount local, exchange rate, principle amount base, other fees base, commission expense base, and net amount base. It is preferred that the futures and options transaction by account/Security ID reports be sorted by account, Security ID, and settlement date. The futures and options transactions by Security ID/trade date are preferably sorted by Security ID and trade date, while the transactions by trade date/Transaction Type reports are preferably sorted by settlement date and Transaction Type. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that examples of futures and options transactions include open long futures contract, sale long futures contract, expire long futures, by and call options, margin variation, etc. With reference to Fig. 13, when the user highlights the Purchase and Sales category 314 within the pop-down screen 212, a number of available Report types are preferably listed in the viewing window (not shown for simplicity). These reports preferably include Security purchase and sales activity by (i) account/Security; (ii) trade date/Transaction Type; (iii) Transaction Type/trade date; and currency/trade date. The Purchase and Sales reports are preferably produced in response to instructions provided by the user. With reference to Fig. 19, the user is preferably presented with an electronic screen into which at least some of the following information may be entered: a from date, a to date, an indication as to trade date, settlement date, and/or effective date, Currency type, Transaction Type, and broker. Preferably, the user is provided with the ability to identify details as to how data of the report will be displayed, e.g., by account/Security, by trade date/Transaction Type, by Transaction Type/trade date, by currency/trade date, local currency only, base currency only, base currency only, and/or local and base currency. The user is also provided with the ability to access a particular Security by entering the first few letters of a Security Name (or the entire Security Name) in an issue look-up dialog box and executing a "look-up" icon. Preferably the Security purchase and sales activity reports include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): Account Name, Account Number, detail Transaction Type, trade date, effective date, settlement date, trading broker name, Security ID, shares/units traded, Security Name short, local price, local currency, principle amount local, accrual amount gross local, realized gain/loss local, net amount local, exchange rate, principle amount base, accrual amount gross base, realized gain/loss base, and net amount base. It is preferred that the Security purchase and sales activity by account/Security report is sorted by account and Security. The activity report by trade date/Transaction Type is preferably sorted by trade date and Transaction Type, while the activity report by Transaction Type/trade date is preferably sorted by Transaction Type and trade date. The activity report by currency/trade date is preferably sorted by currency and trade date. Custody Holdings A custodial depository location is known in the art to be the ultimate physical depository or electronic record keeper of securities. In the United States, there are three principle custodial depository locations: the Federal Reserve Bank (acting as electronic record keepers for U.S. government securities); the depository trust company (acting as a physical depository or electronic record keeper for equities, corporate bonds, and/or certain money market securities); and the participant trust company (acting as the depository for GNMA securities). In most developed markets, there are one or more entities that handle all securities, e.g., the Deutsche Borse clearing in Germany, where, in general, a governmental entity clears governmental securities and a private entity clears all other securities. There are exceptions to this rule. With reference to Fig. 20, when the Custody Holdings category 250 is activated, a pop-down screen 212 is preferably provided which lists one or more categories of reports which may be accessed by the user. Here, Asset Position reports 252 are accessible, for example, by highlighting the desired category. When the Asset Position category 252 is highlighted, a number of available Report types are preferably listed in the viewing window, for example, asset position by country/location detail reports 252a, asset position by country/location summary 252b, and asset position by country/local summary detail 252c. The Asset Position reports are preferably produced in response to instructions provided by the user. With reference to Fig. 21, the user is preferably presented with an electronic screen into which at least some of the following information may be entered: particular accounts, dates, countries, locations, local Currency types, asset types, Security ID, Report type (i.e., summary, summary with detail, or detail), report format (e.g., Excel, existing actuate functionality (tab, comma, or space delimited), copy and paste), and base currency. The user is also preferably provided with the ability to select details which may be included in the report, e.g., whether or not to include pending transactions, and specifying the sort criteria, e.g., sorting by account, sorting by country, sorting by location, sorting by Security ID, and/or sorting by asset type. The Asset Position reports preferably include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): account, account ID, awaiting delivery, awaiting receipt, base currency code, base cuπency description, base market value, country code, country description, coupon rate, report date, exchange rate, in transit, include pendings, local currency code, local currency description, local market price date, local market price, local market value, location code, location description, maturity date, pledged, position detail, pool number, registration code, registration description, at register, report format, Report type, Security dated date, Security descriptions, Security ID, settled quantity, sub-account code, sub-account description, total units, asset type code, asset type description, pledged account, pledged to, core asset type code, and core asset type description. Custody Transactions Those skilled in the art will appreciate that Custody Transactions, in general, refer to the settlement of purchases and/or sales contracts executed with, for example, brokers. An investor may enter into a contrary to buy or sell securities with a broker and the information regarding the contract subsequently becomes a settlement instruction to an identified custodian to complete the settlement of the contract. The Cash Statement and Custody Statement reports provide information on these transactions to purchase and/or sell. In particular, Cash Statement reports provide information regarding the control of cash balances associated with trading activity and may typically include some non- trading transactions, e.g., fee payments, interest collection on cash balances, transactions resulting from holding securities, etc. Custody Statement reports provide information regarding the control of Security positions (share balances) and include information regarding activity that impacts a position, e.g., collection of stock dividends, stock splits, reduction of bond positions (such as from partial call of bonds), etc. As shown in Fig. 22, when the Custody Transactions Category is activated, a pop-down screen 212 is preferably provided which lists the categories of reports which may be accessed by the user. Preferably, these reports include cash balance statement reports 272 and custody transaction statement reports 274 and are accessible, for example, by highlighting the desired report. When the Cash Statement category 272 is highlighted, a number of available Report types are preferably listed in the viewing window. Preferably, these reports include cash balance reports, cash balance with transaction statement reports, cash balance with transaction detail reports, cash balance with transaction statement and transaction detail reports, cash transaction statement reports, cash transaction statement and transaction detail reports, and cash transaction detail reports. The Cash Statement reports are preferably produced in response to instructions provided by the user. With reference to Fig. 23, the user is preferably presented with an electronic screen into which at least some of the following information may be entered: accounts, Currency type, from date, and to date. The user is also preferably provided with the ability to select one or more Report types (i.e., balances, balances with transaction statement, balances with transaction detail, etc.). The user is also preferably provided with the ability to select a report format (e.g., formatted, such as Excel, row and column, and/or comma separated value, CSV). The user also preferably may select sort criteria, such as cash account, transaction date, custody account, Transaction Type, Security ID, net amount, and/or currency. Preferably, the Cash Statement reports include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): Account Name, Account Number, income amount, additional information, asset type (code and/or description), broker commission, cash account (name and/or number), clearing broker (name and or number), coupon rate, currency (code and/or description), customer reference, date, description (transaction code and/or transaction name), dividend/interest rate, ending balance, Ex date, change rate, factor, from date, income amount, dividend/interest rate, maturity date, net amount, opening balance, other charges, payable date, pool number, price principle amount, record date, Report type, Security dated date, Security description, Security ID, settlement date, source tax amount, source tax rate, tax withholding rate first, second, etc., country, to date, trade consideration, trade date, trading broker (name and/or number), transaction date, transaction number, Transaction Type description, units, value date, withholding tax amount first, second, etc., country, and currency. The Cash Statement reports advantageously provided a user with cash balances for specified accounts for a specific activity period. With reference to Fig. 22, when the user highlights the Custody Statement category 274 within the pop-down screen 212, a number of available Report types are preferably listed in the viewing window (not shown for simplicity). These reports preferably include posted custody transaction statement summary reports, posted custody transaction statement summary with detail reports, and posted custody transaction statement detail statements. The Custody Statement reports are preferably produced in response to instructions provided by the user. With reference to Fig. 24, the user is preferably presented with an electronic screen into which at least some of the following information may be entered: a from date, a to date, accounts, Transaction Type, Currency type, and Security ID. The user is also preferably provided with the ability to select a Report type, such as summary, summary with detail, and/or detail. Preferably, the user is provided with the ability to select a specific type of report format, such as formatted (e.g., Excel), row and column, and/or comma separated value (CSV). The user is also provided with the ability to sort by specified criteria, such as custody account, transaction date, Transaction Type, currency, and/or Security description. It is preferred that the Custody Statement reports include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): Account Name, Account Number, income amount, additional information, asset type (code and/or description), broker commission, cash account (name and/or number), clearing broker (name and/or number), coupon rate, currency (code and/or description), customer reference, date, description (transaction code and/or transaction name), dividend/interest rate, Ex date, change rate, factor, from date, income amount, dividend/interest rate, maturity date, net amount, other charges, payable date, pool number, price principle amount, record date, Report type, Security dated date, Security description, Security ID, settlement date, source tax amount, source tax rate, tax withholding rate first, second, etc., country, to date, trade consideration, trade date, trading broker (name and/or number), transaction date, transaction number, Transaction Type description, units, value date, withholding tax amount first, second, etc., country, and currency. Securities Lending Referring now to Fig. 25, when the Security Lending category 290 is activated, a pop-down screen 212 is preferably provided which lists the categories of reports which may be accessed by the user. Preferably, these reports include Investment reports, and Loans Outstanding reports 292, 292, respectively. When the Investments reports category 292 is highlighted, a number of available Report types are preferably listed in the viewing window, for example, investments by account (U.S. settled securities) reports 292a. The investments by account reports 292a are preferably produced in response to instructions provided by the user by way of an electronic screen into which the user may enter at least some of the following information: an As of Date, an Account Number(s), collateral Currency types, and open/term types. The investments by account (U.S. settled securities) report 292a preferably includes at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): As of Date, printed on date, Account Name, Account Number, product, issuer name, principle amount, investment rate, original investment date, re-price date, maturity date, daily earnings, collateral currency, open/term, and SLM. When the Loans Outstanding report category 294 is highlighted, a number of available Report types are preferably listed in the viewing window (not shown for simplicity). These reports preferably include summary of loans outstanding by account (non-U.S. market) reports, loans outstanding by account (non-U.S. market), loans outstanding by account (U.S. settled securities) reports, summary of loans outstanding by account (U.S. settled securities) reports, and earnings by account (U.S. settled securities). The Loans Outstanding reports are preferably produced in response to instructions provided by the user by way of an electronic screen into which the user may enter at least some of the following information: Account Number, As of Date, loan type, settlement C rency type, collateral Currency type, and Security ID. Preferably, the user is provided with the ability to select a Report type (e.g., non-U.S. markets, and U.S. settled securities), summary, and earnings. It is prefeπed that the summary of loans outstanding by account (non-U.S. market) reports include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): As of Date, printed on date, Account Name, Account Number, number of loans, total shares/par, loan value, collateral value, loan type, settlement currency, collateral c rency, loan value (preferably U.S. dollars), collateral value, open term, and SLS. Preferably, the information (or fields) contained in the summary of loans outstanding by account (non-U.S. market) reports may be sorted by account ID, loan type, settlement currency, and/or collateral currency. It is preferred that the loans outstanding by account (non-U.S. market) reports include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): As of Date, printed on date, Account Name, Account Number, loan number, broker name, Security ID, Security description, loan date, open/term, share/par, loan value, collateral value, loan type, settlement currency, collateral cuπency, loan value, collateral value, and SLS. Preferably, the above information may be sorted by Account Number, loan type, settlement currency, and/or collateral currency. It is preferred that the loans outstanding by account (U.S. settled securities) reports include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): As of Date, printed on date, Account Name, Account Number, loan number, broker name, Security identifier, Security description, loan date, open/term, shares/par, loan value, collateral value, loan type, settlement currency, collateral currency, and SLM. Preferably, this information may be sorted by account ID, loan type, settlement currency, and/or collateral currency. It is preferred that the summary of loans outstanding by account (U.S. settled securities) reports include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): As of Date, printed on date, Account Name, Account Number, number of loans, total shares/par, loan value, collateral value, loan type, settlement currency, collateral currency, open/term, and SLM. Preferably, this information may be sorted by Account Number, loan type, settlement currency, and/or collateral currency. It is preferred that the earnings by account (U.S. settled securities) reports include at least some of the following information (or fields): As of Date, printed on date, Account Name, Account Number, loan type, collateral currency, loan account, open/term, shares/par, collateral value, currency cycles earnings, and SLM. Preferably, this information may be sorted by Account Number, loan type, and/or collateral currency. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that loan collateral is only one example of a lending transaction and other securities may be offered as collateral for securities boπowed. Advantageously, Securities Lending reports provide information as to the amount of securities that have been loaned or borrowed and the value of the collateral is monitored to make sure that the value of the collateral remains sufficiently high. News and Reference With reference to Fig. 1, when the user commands access to the News and Reporting category 300, he or she may access information in a plurality of ways, namely, via a custom page 302, quotes 320, charts 340, news 360, and/or market at a glance 380. The News and Reporting category 300 of information is preferably provided to the user via one or more electronic screens transmitted over the network. Custom Page Referring to Fig. 26, an example of an electronic screen containing News and Reporting information organized on a custom page 302 is shown. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the details of Fig. 26 are shown schematically and by way of example only. Many other variations and modification as to the "look and feel" of the electronic screen will be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is prefeπed that the custom page 302 contain a plurality of information concerning News and Reporting, for example, full quotes, watch lists, news headlines, and/or charts. Full quotes include market prices, such as current price, high, low, open, close, volume, and/or annual high/low. The full quotes are preferably available to the user on a substantially real time basis. The user may preferably access full quote information at area 304 of the custom page screen 302. When the user wishes to obtain a full quote on, for example, the IBM Security, he or she preferably enters the ticker symbol in input field 306 (where the input field 306 includes a drop-down box containing a plurality of previously entered symbols which are stored in memory). The user can also step back to previously entered ticker symbols by activating the "go back" icon. In accordance with the invention, watch lists are personal portfolios defined by the user for viewing quotes on one or more instruments (e.g., securities) in a single display. Preferably, the user may access and/or manipulate his or her watch list at area 308 of the News and Reporting screen 302. The user may create a new watch list by executing the "create watch list" icon and then entering a name for the new watch list, adding and/or deleting ticker symbols to be displayed or removed from the new watch list, and executing/storing the new watch list by activating an acceptance icon (e.g., an "ok" icon). Fig. 26 shows that a user has selected a plurality of ticker symbols, namely, W, MFST, CMB, B, MER, and F, for display where the last price, change, high, and low prices are tracked for easy viewing. The user may review previously saved watch lists by executing the "go back" icon. Preferably, the user may edit an existing watch list by executing the "edit watch list" icon and adding/deleting symbols as desired. The user may preferably access a particular watch list by executing the "view another watch list" icon and entering the desired watch list name. The News and Reporting electronic screen 302 preferably provides the user with the ability to retrieve news headlines, etc., at area 310. The user is preferably provided with one or more input fields for receiving search criteria from the user which are used to access a database of News and Reporting information. The input fields preferably include categories of information 312, key words 314, and/or ticker symbols (e.g., company name) 316. Each field preferably includes a drop-down box containing previously entered criteria. Headlines of news and/or reference information matching the criteria entered by the user are preferably listed at area 318. When the user highlights a particular headline, an electronic screen is preferably transmitted to the user containing the actual news article associated with the headline. Chart information is preferably provided at area 303 of the News and Reporting electronic screen 302. The chart information preferably includes prices for specific instruments (e.g., securities, such as particular stocks), where high, low, close, and/or open prices are preferably included. The user may preferably specify the particular instrument by entering a symbol at an input field 305 (it being understood that the input field 305 includes a drop-down box containing previously entered instruments). The user is preferably provided with the ability to specify whether the chart is a daily, weekly, monthly, etc., duration. The user may review previous charts by activating the "go back"icon. As discussed above, the custom page electronic screen 302 shown in Fig. 26 is only one example of how information may be organized for the user. Preferably, when the user specifies the custom page option 302 at the News and Reporting category 300, he or she is provided with the option of selecting an existing custom page, deleting a custom page, saving a custom page, and/or creating a new custom page. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that these options may be readily provided on an electronic screen and activated by way of any of the known methods, for example, executable icons, links, input fields, etc. When the user selects the creating a new custom page option, he or she preferably is prompted to enter a name for the new custom page, and selecting a number of frames (one frame for each type of information) which the user desires to be presented on the custom page. Examples of frames include full quotes, watch lists, news headlines, charts, etc. The user is preferably provided with the option of specifying where these fields are to be located on the custom page. The user may then save the new custom page using any of the known techniques. Existing custom pages previously specified and defined by the user are preferably listed on command by the user. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the user may be provided with an executable icon, input field, link, etc., which when activated results in an electronic screen listing the names of these custom pages on an electronic screen. The user may then preferably highlight a custom page name to obtain an electronic screen, such as that shown in Fig. 26, of the custom page. The user may preferably edit an existing custom page by executing an appropriate icon, etc., invoking an edit interface which contains substantially the same information/options as creating a new custom page. The user may then change the custom page and save these changes for future accessibility. Custom pages may preferably be deleted using any of the known techniques. The user need not obtain News and Reporting information by way of the custom page, but rather may obtain full quotes, watch lists, news headlines, and/or charts individually. Quote The user may preferably obtain a full quote by activating an icon and entering information on a particular instrument substantially the same as obtaining a quote for the custom page 302, e.g., entering the ticker symbol. This preferably results in an electronic screen being transmitted to the user which contains market prices such as the open, high, low, last, and close stock prices (see for example, area 304 of Fig. 26). The electronic screen also preferably includes a chart containing a time series of previous prices, for example, fifty-two weekly closing prices. News headlines concerning the particular instrument may also be included on the electronic screen, for example, by listing the headlines and permitting the user to highlight a particular headline and obtain an electronic screen containing an electronic version of the actual article. When the user does not know the symbol of a particular instrument, a listing of potential ticker symbols are preferably provided to the user by way of an electronic screen in response to, for example, a full name entered at the input field. Preferably, the user may then highlight the correct ticker symbol to obtain the full quote. Chart With reference to Fig. 1 , the user may preferably obtain charts 340 by executing an appropriate icon (or other input method) at the News and Reporting category 300 electronic screen. When the user executes the chart option, an electronic screen is preferably presented to the user which prompts the user for a particular ticker symbol, it being understood that the user may execute the symbol look-up function if the ticker symbol is not known. The user is also preferably prompted for the pricing frequency (e.g., daily, weekly, and/or monthly). The user may then execute a "get chart" icon which causes an electronic screen containing an appropriate chart for the specified ticker symbol to be transmitted to the user (see for example, area 303 of Fig. 26). News Headlines With reference to Fig. 1, the user may obtain news headlines 360 by executing an appropriate icon (or other input method) at the News and Reporting category 300 electronic screen. A news start-up screen is preferably transmitted to the user which provides access to a plurality of broad categories of news, for example, corporation, equity, economic, foreign exchange, and general news information. These broad categories are preferably accessed by executing icons, links, input fields, etc. The user may preferably enter an instrument name, such as a company name, ticker symbol, etc., such that only news concerning the instrument is listed or accessible. Preferably, general news information is the default and news headlines related to categories other then corporation, equity, economic, or foreign exchange are preferably listed on the electronic screen for the user. The user preferably highlights a particular general news item to obtain an electronic version of the underlying article (see for example, area 310 of Fig. 26). When the user executes the corporation icon, only the news information relating to corporations are displayed. When the user executes the corporation icon, preferably a plurality of subcategories are displayed (for example, by way of icons, etc.) which further filter the news information for the user. These subcategories preferably include worldwide corporate news stories, and all corporate earnings worldwide. The user may preferably highlight one of these subcategories to obtain a list of news headlines concerning that subcategory. Particular news stories may be obtain by highlighting a particular headline. Subcategories are also preferably provided for the equity category, namely, world stock markets, emerging markets, and major global equity stories. The economic category preferably includes the following subcategories: worldwide corporate news stories, economic indicator announcements, interest rate announcements, U.S. Federal Reserve, market focus-key events and analysis, and after the event in-depth analysis. The foreign exchange category preferably includes the following subcategories: G seven countries, West Europe, East Europe, North America, South America, Pacific Rim, Middle East End, South West Asia, and Africa. The general category preferably includes the following subcategories: major business stories from around the globe, major business stories from Latin America, major stories from the G seven countries, index of global general news, index of global sports news, global general news, global sports news, and news of the world. Market At A Glance With reference to Fig. 1, market at a glance information 380 may be invoked from the News and Reporting screen 300, preferably by activating an associated icon. When the market at a glance icon 380 is executed, the user is preferably presented with an electronic screen which includes a left navigation menu including a plurality of market category icons, for example, equity, fixed income, foreign exchange, and money markets, commodities and energy (the equity category being the default). When the equity icon is invoked (or when the equity category is accessed by a default), a plurality of subcategories are preferably listed on an electronic screen, for example, world stock market indices, Asia indices, emerging market indices, European indices, American indices, and Latin American indices. When the user highlights one of the subcategories, it is preferred that underlying detail be provided in an electronic screen. When the fixed income icon is activated, the user is preferably presented with an electronic screen listing a plurality of subcategories, including U.S. treasuries and money markets, Canadian capital markets, U.S. government bench marks, and world yield summary. When the foreign exchange and money markets icon is activated, the user is preferably provided with an electronic screen listing a plurality of subcategories, including spot rates, cross rates, currency forwards, currency fixings, special drawing right (SDR) rates, spot rates in categories, forward rates, cross rates in categories, currency fixings listed by bank, interbank offer rates (BB A), settlement rates, European deposits, and Japanese discount rates. When the commodities and energy icon is activated, the user is preferably provided with a plurality of subcategories, including metals overview, energy overview, Reuters Commodities Index, brent, gold spot rates, London gold fix, and silver spot rates. The user is preferably prompted to enter an instrument (such as a symbol or company name) in an input field. When one of the above categories and/or subcategories is selected, one or more frames are preferably provided in an electronic screen which include the following information: market quotes (such as open, high, low, last, and close prices), a chart (such as fifty-two weekly closing prices), and a listing of related news headlines. COMPLIANCE Compliance is the product that assesses, on a post-trade basis, whether a portfolio is invested within parameters of an applicable investment guideline (or rule). The guideline may be driven at the composite portfolio level by regulations and/or by investment committees (of the investment vehicle sponsor). Additional guidelines may be imposed at the portfolio manager level by the sponsor. Guidelines are typically driven by the desire to spread risk and diversify portfolios. Examples of guidelines (or rules) are: (i) no more than 5% of total assets in any one country or industry; (ii) no more than 5% of the issued share capital of any one issuer; (iii) no more than 2% of Net Asset Value in securities rated less than AAA by Standard and Poor's; and (iv) no written options unless the underlying Security is held by the portfolio. With reference to Fig. 1 , the user preferably obtains compliance reports by activating an appropriate icon on an electronic screen, such as the home page 100. In general, the compliance screen(s) 400 contain investment guideline Compliance Information regarding one or more investment portfolios (such as mutual funds). Compliance reports preferably show results of tests which are conducted on the investments of the portfolio to ensure that certain rules have not been violated. For example, a rule may be established that a particular portfolio will invest at least percent of total assets in debt securities. If the portfolio were to invest only (A-l) percent of total assets in debt securities, then the rule will be violated and compliance would not be met. When the user activates the compliance icon, he or she is preferably presented with a start-up electronic screen, such as that shown in Fig. 27. At the left side of the electronic screen, a menu of reports is available by way of icon or link, namely, views reports, such as by account, by test, and by rule; results reports, such as passes, warnings, and violations; and other reports, such as revised, and/or special requests. The work area of the screen displays the information requested by the user from the menu. When the "by account" icon is activated, one or more of the user's account (portfolios, mutual funds, etc.), are listed with associated rules, results, and/or status. For example, the XYZ test has five associated rules, namely, currency reports, derivative restrictions, Japan requirement, rights report, and warrants report. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that these rules may take any on of an infinite number of forms and are typically defined by a controlling document, such as a prospectus or other controlling document. The results column indicates whether the particular portfolio has passed, potentially violated, or failed the rule. When tests are in progress as to whether the account (or portfolio) satisfies the one or more rules, the status is "open". When the tests as to an account have already been executed, the status is "closed". The accounts, tests, rules, results, and status may be presented and sorted by account, test, rule, results, etc., by selecting the appropriate icon at the menu. With reference to Fig. 28, the user is preferably provided with the ability to search (i.e., filter) the information of one or more reports. In particular, the user may filter by published date, postdate, account, test, rule, status, run type, view, etc. By activating the "choose" icon adjacent the account, test, or rule input dialog boxes, the user is preferably provided with one or more lists of accounts, tests, and/or rules from which to choose so that he or she need not type the information explicitly. Reference is now made to Fig. 29 which is an example of an electronic screen resulting from the search screen of Fig. 28 (assuming that certain of the input fields had been completed). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the search criteria presented in Fig. 28 were used to obtain the accounts, rules, tests, results, and/or status meeting the search criteria. When the user highlights the "potential violation" icon of Fig. 29, the user is preferably provided with an electronic screen presenting so-called drill down information, an example of which may be seen in Fig. 30. Preferably, the user may activate a "test summary" executable icon (for example, at a lower portion of the electronic screen), which preferably results in a further electronic screen being presented to the user containing information as to a test summary. For example, the electronic screen shown in Fig. 31 may be presented to the user in response to the "test summary" icon being activated in the electronic screen shown in Fig. 30. Other examples of rules are as follows: the account will invest in at least three different countries, including the United States; the account will invest in no more than 40% of total assets in securities issued by any one country (other than the U.S.); the account will invest in no more than 20% of total assets in common and prefeπed stocks. PERFORMANCE With reference to Fig. 1, the user preferably obtains performance reports by activating an appropriate icon on an electronic screen, such as the homepage 10 or a performance page 500. In general, the performance functions of the invention produces customized reports to the user in response to user commands. When the user activates a performance icon, he or she is preferably presented with an electronic screen, such as that shown in Fig. 32. At a left side (or window field) of the electronic screen, a menu of executable icons are provided, namely, client view 502, composites 504, accounts 506, indices 508, portfolio view 510, and guidelines 512. The client view icon 502, when activated, produces so-called canned reports based on user specific business needs. The composites 504, accounts 506, and indices 508 icons provide the user with a means to indicate the specific composites, accounts, and/or indices to be included in a performance report. The portfolio view icon 510 provides the user with a means to specify whether individual composites, accounts, and/or indices; or multiple composites, accounts, and/or indices are to be used to produce the portfolio report. In general, reports from the client view 502 category of reports are produced according to a predefined and stored set of criteria, namely, predefined composites, accounts, and/or indices, and predefined criteria defining the report. Reports from the portfolio view 510 category are generally created by prompting the user to enter commands (such as composites, accounts and/or indices, and criteria) to produce a desired report. When the user wishes to obtain a portfolio view report, the user preferably selects one or more composites 504, accounts 506, and/or indices 508 that he or she wishes to be included in the report. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that an account is a fund or portfolio which may be managed by a specific portfolio manager, a composite is a combination of two or more accounts, and an index is an industry standard benchmark, representative of an asset class, securities market, and/or investment objective. When the user activates the composite icon 504, a drop-down box is preferably provided on the electronic screen which lists the available composites and adds a particular composite as a function of highlighting. Similar drop-down boxes are preferably produced when the user activates the accounts icon 506 or indices icon 508. Next, the user preferably activates the portfolio view icon 510 which preferably causes a drop-down box to appear on the electronic screen listing a plurality of reports available to the user. Preferably, these reports include Add Hock Performance, Asset Allocation, Cash Flow Reports, Characteristics, Comparison Market Indices, Component Accounts, Corporate Action, Country Allocation, Fixed Income Allocation, Portfolio Holdings, Monthly Change In Index Value, Monthly Change In Portfolio Value, Performance, Portfolio Comparison, Portfolio By Country, Search, Security Allocation By Country, Security FI Characteristics, Security FI Listing, Transaction, Triangle Analysis, and Yearly Summary. When the user highlights a particular report, for example the portfolio comparison report, a window field preferably appears on the electronic screen (see Fig. 32) containing one or more input fields for receiving commands from the user as to the criteria for creating the report. In general, each of the drop-down box created by the portfolio view icon 510, when activated, will cause a different set of input fields for receiving criteria to appear, although it is possible that two reports may require the same criteria. When the user selects the portfolio comparison report, the criteria to be selected by the user preferably includes standard ranges (i.e., current, trailing three months, year-to-date, trailing year, trailing three years, etc.), relative date, custom date range (i.e., from date and to date), selected date ranges, attribute (i.e., asset category, economic sector, industry level, etc.), asset category, country, market indices (e.g., Dow Jones, First Boston Convertible Bonds, etc.), and return display, (e.g., annualized, cumulative etc.). When the user has entered the criteria in the criteria input fields 514, he or she may be prompted to activate the process icon 516 which causes the criteria to be applied to a set of data contained in storage. Those skilled in the art will understand that standard mathematical techniques are utilized to apply the criteria to stored financial data to produce reporting data for the report. The report may be provided to the user in any number of ways, such as by table or graph. With reference to Fig. 33, the user may preferably be provided with a spreadsheet (or table) when the user activates a spreadsheet icon 518. The specific information provided in the report shown in Fig. 33 is preferably produced in response to a portfolio holdings report. Those skilled n the art will appreciate that the data fields of the portfolio holdings report are illustrated in Fig. 33 by way of example only and that many modifications and variations are considered within the scope of the invention. It is preferred that a portfolio holdings report include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): issuer, manager, contract number, Book Value, percentage of portfolio, current rate, maturity/duration, type, contract start date, contract end date, payout start date, total payments, and payments left. At least some of the reports under the portfolio view icon 510 are conducive to being represented by way of a graph. Graphs are preferably obtained by the user by executing a graph icon 520. With reference to Fig. 34, a graphical representation of a performance report is preferably provided on an electronic screen when the user executes the graph icon 520. The specific graph shown in window field 522 illustrates a total performance by region, here Europe. The performance in other regions are preferably obtained by executing appropriate icons which may be found along a top portion of the electronic screen, namely, Australia, South America, North America, Southern Asia, and/or Central America. Bar charts and/or pie charts may also be obtained by selecting appropriate icons. It is preferred that asset allocation reports include at least one of the following pieces of information (or fields): non-US equity, US equity, non- US fixed income, US fixed income, cash and cash equivalent, US real estate, convertibles, and alternative instruments. Corporate action reports preferably include at least one of the following pieces of information: Account Number, Account Name, Transaction Type, Security ID, Security Name, trade date, settle date, unit price, shares, exchange rate, BAC market value, LOC market value, realized gain/loss, commission, and broker name. Country allocation reports preferably include at least one of the following pieces of information: country, portfolio manager, market value for each country (by each manager), total composite market value for each country, and total market value for each portfolio manager. Monthly change in portfolio value reports preferably include at least one of following pieces of information (or fields): composite name, portfolio Account Number, manager description, market value (prior time period minus daily or monthly), net cash flow, market value (current time period minus daily or monthly), ROR, weighted flow, ROR, and percentage increase/decrease. Those skilled in the art will understand that any of the above listed pieces of information (or fields) may be utilized in any of the portfolio view reports if desired and that the specific fields listed above are presented by way of example only. The client view category 502 reports are preferably predefined for particular clients and that the number of additional criteria that need to be entered prior to obtaining a report is minimized. A client view report, for example, may contain client summary information which include at least one of the following pieces of information: manager name, benchmark, actual allocation, target allocation, daily portfolio return, daily benchmark return, month-to-date portfolio return, month-to-date benchmark return, year-to-date portfolio return, year-to- date benchmark return, daily variance to benchmark, month-to-date variance to benchmark, and year-to-date variance to benchmark. A particular client may wish a custom client summary report which may include at least one of the following pieces of information: manager name, market value, percentage of total assets, daily portfolio return, month-to- date portfolio return, and year-to-date portfolio return. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other types of client view reports may be predefined in accordance with the invention. These reports may be obtained by the user when he or she activates the client view icon 502 and highlights a particular report. With reference to Fig. 32, batch, export, help and print icons are preferably provided in the left window field. These icons may be activated by a user to obtain, for example, a batch report which monitors and stores frequently used report criteria so that a user may easily specify criteria in the future. When the export icon is activated, the data (or fields) contained in a report may be exported to an external program, such as Excel. The export files may be obtained via, separated variable (CSV) such that they may be imported into most spreadsheet or data base programs. The print icon allows the user to print the information of the report. As is known in the art, the help icon provides information on how to utilize the performance function. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE With reference to Fig. 35, a block diagram of a system architecture which is suitable for use in practicing the invention is shown. The system preferably includes a network server 10 coupled to a network 20 through a firewall 30. It is most preferred that the network is the internet, although any computer network is considered within the scope of the invention. The network server includes a microprocessor, a database coupled to the microprocessor, and a network interface (input/output circuit) coupled to the microprocessor and operable to send and receive data over the computer network as is known in the art. The microprocessor is operable to execute instructions in accordance with a computer program which is at least partially stored in the database. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the network server 10 may be coupled to other networks servers 10a, 10b, 10c to facilitate various functions in accordance with the invention. For example, the database may not be contained within the network server 10, but rather may be a stand alone unit 12 accessible via a separate database server 10c. Users 40 may access the features and functions of the invention via the network 20 using, for example, computers employing network browser applications. Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is prefeπed, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.

Claims: WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: 1. A method for providing investment information to a user, comprising the acts of: establishing access to at least one information database which contains investment information concerning investment vehicles, the investment information including accounting information, news information, Compliance Information, and performance information; maintaining an electronic sight on a network to which the user may connect; and transmitting an electronic screen to the user over the network which contains at least one of: (i) the investment information; and (ii) at least one link to the investment information in response to a user request. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the accounting information includes data from at least one of the following categories: Country Exposure, Currency Exposure, Exposure Analysis, Income Receivable, Net Asset Value, Sector/Industry Exposure, Security Detail, Segment/Category Exposure, and Top Holdings. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Country Exposure report is desired: an As of Date, a Compare Date specified, types of currency, countries, Segments, categories, summary report, detail report, region report, and account report. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein: the Segments include at least one of equities, fixed income instruments, cash equivalents, short term investments, alternative investments and miscellaneous assets; and the categories include at least one of common stock, preferred stock, government bonds, futures, and treasury bills. 5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the accounting information for the Country Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a Compare Date specified is provided: subtotals of Net Asset Value on the Compare Date specified, subtotals of Net Asset Value on the As of Date, and percentage change of Net Asset Value from the Compare Date specified to the As of Date; and the accounting information for the Country Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a Compare Date specified in not provided: for each Account Name, region, and country, subtotals at each account and region of the Book Value and Net Asset Value, unrealized, percentage unrealized, and percentage of total. 6. The method of claim 2, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Currency Exposure report is desired: an As of Date, a Compare Date specified, types of currency, countries, Segments, categories, summary report, detail report, region report, account report, and currency report. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein: the Segments include at least one of equities, fixed income instruments, cash equivalents, short term investments, alternative investments and miscellaneous assets; and the categories include at least one of common stock, preferred stock, government bonds, futures, and treasury bills. 8. The method of claim 6, wherein: the accounting information for the Cuπency Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by cuπency report is requested and a Compare Date specified is provided: Currency type, Compare Date specified Net Asset Value local, As of Date Net Asset Value (local or base), and percent change Net Asset Value (local or base) from Compare Date specified to As of Date; and the accounting information for the Cuπency Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by cuπency report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not provided: Cuπency type, Book Value local, Net Asset Value local, unrealized gain/loss (local or base), percentage unrealized gain/loss (local or base), and percentage of total Net Asset Value base. 9. The method of claim 6, wherein: the accounting information for the Cuπency Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by account report is requested and a Compare Date specified is provided: Account Name, Account Number, Cuπency type, Compare Date specified Net Asset Value (local or base), As of Date Net Asset Value (local or base), percentage change Net Asset Value (local or base); and the accounting information for the Cuπency Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by account report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not provided: Account Name, Account Number, Cuπency type, net asset Book Value (local or base), Net Asset Value (local or base), unrealized gain/loss (local or base), percentage unrealized gain/loss (local or base), and percentage of total Net Asset Value base. 10. The method of claim 6, wherein: the accounting information for the Cuπency Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a cuπency /Segment report is requested and a Compare Date specified are provided: Cuπency type, Segment type, Compare Date specified market value (local or base), As of Date market value (local or base), percentage change market value (local or base); and the accounting information for the Cuπency Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a cuπency /Segment report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not provided: Cuπency type, Segment type, Book Value (local or base), market value (local or base), unrealized gain/loss (local or base), percentage unrealized gain/loss (local or base), and percentage of total market value base. 11. The method of claim 6, wherein: the accounting information for the Cuπency Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a Segment detail by account report is requested and a Compare Date specified is provided: Account Name, Account Number, Cuπency type, Segment type, Compare Date specified market value (local or base), As of Date market value (local or base), and percentage change market value (local or base); and the accounting information for the Cuπency Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a Segment detail by account report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not provided: Account Name, Account Number, Cuπency type, Segment type, Book Value (local or base), market value (local or base), unrealized gain loss (local or base), percentage unrealized gain/loss (local or base), and percentage of total market value base. 12. The method of claim 2, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Exposure Analysis report is desired: an As of Date, types of cuπency, countries, Segments, country report, and account report. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein: the accounting information for the Exposure Analysis report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a country report is requested: for each country and Segment, the market value, and percentage of total market value, and the total market value for all countries and Segments. 14. The method of claim 12, wherein: the accounting information for the Exposure Analysis report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when an account report is requested: total market value, and for each Account Name and Account Number, market value and percentage of total market value for each Segment. 15. The method of claim 2, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when an Income Receivables report is desired: an As of Date, types of cuπencies, Security ID, cuπency/payable date report, account/cuπency report, and a Security/payable date, local cuπency only, base cuπency only, and local and base cuπency. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein: the accounting information for the Income Receivables report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: income cuπency code, Account Name, Account Number, Security Name, Security ID, Ex date, payable date, accrued income gross (local or base), accrued income past due (local or base), withholding tax (local or base), tax reclaim accrual (local or base), net income due (local or base), and exchange rate. 17. The method of claim 2, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Net Asset Value report is desired: an As of Date, a Compare Date specified, summary report and detail report. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein: the accounting information for the Net Asset Value report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary report and a Compare Date specified are requested: compare Net Asset Value base, as of Net Asset Value base, and percentage change Net Asset Value base; and the accounting information for the Net Asset Value report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not requested: Book Value base, Net Asset Value base, unrealized gain/loss base, and percentage unrealized gain/loss base. 19. The method of claim 17, wherein: the accounting information for the Net Asset Value report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when an account report and a Compare Date specified are requested: Account Name, Account Number, compare Net Asset Value base, as of Net Asset Value base, and percentage change Net Asset Value base; and the accounting information for the Net Asset Value report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when an account report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not requested: Account Name, Account Number, Book Value base, Net Asset Value base, unrealized gain/loss base, and percentage unrealized gain/loss base. 20. The method of claim 2, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Sector/Industry Exposure report is desired: an As of Date, a Compare Date specified, types of cuπency, countries, Segments, sectors, industry, summary report, account detail report, sector report and industry report. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein: the accounting information for the Sector/Industry Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by sector report and a Compare Date specified are requested: sector, Compare Date specified market value base, As of Date market value base, and percentage change market value base; and the accounting information for the Sector/Industry Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by sector report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not requested: sector, Book Value base, market value base, unrealized gain/loss base, percentage unrealized gain/loss base, and percentage of total market value base. 22. The method of claim 20, wherein: the accounting information for the Sector/Industry Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by industry report and a Compare Date specified are requested: industry, sector, Compare Date specified market value base, As of Date market value base, and percentage change market value base; and the accounting information for the Sector/Industry Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by industry report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not requested: industry, sector, Book Value base, market value base, unrealized gain/loss base, percentage unrealized gain/loss base, and percentage of total market value base. 23. The method of claim 20, wherein: the accounting information for the Sector/Industry Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when an account detail by sector report and a Compare Date specified are requested: Account Name, Account Number, sector, Compare Date specified market value base, As of Date market value base, and percentage change market value base; and the accounting information for the Sector/Industry Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when an account detail by sector report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not requested: Account Name, Account Number, sector, Book Value base, market value base, unrealized gain loss base, percentage unrealized gain/loss base, and percentage of total market value base. 24. The method of claim 20, wherein: the accounting information for the Sector/Industry Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when an account detail by industry report and a Compare Date specified are requested: industry, Account Name, Account Number, sector, Compare Date specified market value base, As of Date market value base, and percentage change market value base; and the accounting information for the Sector/Industry Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when an account detail by industry report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not requested: industry, Account Name, Account Number, sector, Book Value base, market value base, unrealized gain/loss base, percentage unrealized gain/loss base, and percentage of total market value base. 25. The method of claim 2, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Security Detail report is desired: an As of Date, a Compare Date specified, types of cuπency, countries, Segments, categories, sectors, industry, local values only, and local and base values. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein: the Segments include at least one of equities, fixed income instruments, cash equivalents, short term investments, alternative investments and miscellaneous assets; and the categories include at least one of common stock, prefeπed stock, government bonds, futures, and treasury bills. 27. The method of claim 25, wherein: the accounting information for the Security Detail report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a Security/ Account report and a Compare Date specified are requested: Security Name, Account Name, Account Number, Security ID, Segment, category, sector, industry, cuπency, shares/units, price local, Compare Date specified market value (local or base), As of Date market value (local or base), and percentage change market value (local or base). 28. The method of claim 25, wherein: the accounting information for the Security Detail report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when an account/Security report and a Compare Date specified are requested: Security Name, Account Name, Account Number, Security ID, Segment, category, sector, industry, cuπency, shares/units, price local, Compare Date specified market value (local or base), As of Date market value (local or base), and percentage change market value (local or base). 29. The method of claim 25, wherein: the accounting information for the Security Detail report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a Security/ Account report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not requested: Security Name, Account Name, Account Number, Security ID, Segment, category, sector, industry, cuπency, shares/units, price local, Book Value (local or base), market value (local or base), accrued income gross (local or base), unrealized gain/loss (local or base), percentage unrealized gain/loss (local or base), percentage of total portfolio, total shares outstanding, and percentage of shares held. 30. The method of claim 25, wherein: the accounting information for the Security Detail report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when an account/Security report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not requested: Security Name, Account Name, Account Number, Security ID, Segment, category, sector, industry, cuπency, shares/units, price local, Book Value (local or base), market value (local or base), accrued income gross (local or base), unrealized gain/loss (local or base), percentage unrealized gain/loss (local or base), percentage of total portfolio, total shares outstanding, and percentage of shares held. 31. The method of claim 2, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Segment/Category Exposure report is desired: an As of Date, a Compare Date specified, types of securities, countries, Segments, categories, sectors, Segment report, account report, summary report and detail report. 32. The method of claim 31 , wherein: the Segments include at least one of equities, fixed income instruments, cash equivalents, short term investments, alternative investments and miscellaneous assets; and the categories include at least one of common stock, prefeπed stock, government bonds, futures, and treasury bills. 33. The method of claim 31 , wherein: the accounting information for the Segment/Category Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by Segment report and a Compare Date specified are requested: Segment, category, Compare Date specified market value base, As of Date market value base, and percentage change market value base; and the accounting information for the Segment/Category Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by Segment report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not requested: Segment, category, Book Value base, market value base, unrealized gain loss base, percentage unrealized gain/loss base, and percentage of total market value base. 34. The method of claim 31 , wherein: the accounting information for the Segment/Category Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by account report and a Compare Date specified are requested: Account Name, Account Number, Segment, category, Compare Date specified market value base, As of Date market value base, and percentage change market value base; and the accounting information for the Segment/Category Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by account report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not requested: Account Name, Account Number, Segment, category, Book Value base, market value base, unrealized gain/loss base, percentage unrealized gain/loss base, and percentage of total market value base. 35. The method of claim 31 , wherein : the accounting information for the Segment/Category Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a detail by Segment report and a Compare Date specified are requested: Segment, category, Account Name, Account Number, cuπency, Security Name, shares/units, price local, Compare Date specified market value (local or base), As of Date market value (local or base), and percentage change market value (local or base); and the accounting information for the Segment/Category Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a detail by Segment report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not requested: Segment, category, Account Name, Account Number, cuπency, Security Name, shares/units, price local, Book Value (local or base), market value (local or base), accrued income gross (local or base), unrealized gain/loss (local or base), and percentage unrealized gain/loss (local or base). 36. The method of claim 31 , wherein: the accounting information for the Segment/Category Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a detail by account report and a Compare Date specified are requested: Segment, category, Account Name, Account Number, cuπency, Security Name, shares/units, price local, Compare Date specified market value (local or base), As of Date market value (local or base), and percentage change market value (local or base); and the accounting information for the Segment/Category Exposure report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a detail by account report is requested and a Compare Date specified is not requested: Segment, category, Account Name, Account Number, cuπency, Security Name, shares/units, price local, Book Value (local or base), market value (local or base), accrued income gross (local or base), unrealized gain/loss (local or base), and percentage unrealized gain/loss (local or base). 37. The method of claim 2, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Top Holdings report is desired: an As of Date, types of currency, countries, Segments, categories, number of holdings, summary report, and detail report. 38. The method of claim 3 , wherein: the Segments include at least one of equities, fixed income instruments, cash equivalents, short term investments, alternative investments and miscellaneous assets; and the categories include at least one of common stock, prefeπed stock, government bonds, futures, and treasury bills. 39. The method of claim 37, wherein: the accounting information for the Top Holdings report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: rank, shares/units, Security ID, Security Name, market value base, percentage of total portfolio, cuπency, country of risk, Segment, and category. 40. The method of claim 1 , wherein the accounting information includes data from at least one of the following categories: Broker Commission, Transaction Detail, Corporate Actions, Foreign Exchange, Futures and Options, and Purchase and Sales. 41. The method of claim 40, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Broker Commission report is desired: a from date, a to date, a trade date, a settlement date, an effective date, cuπency, Transaction Types, brokers, summary report and detail report. 42. The method of claim 41, wherein: the accounting information for the Broker Commission report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by broker report is requested: trading broker name, shares/units traded, commission expense base, principle amount base, average commission per share base, and percentage of principle base. 43. The method of claim 41 , wherein: the accounting information for the Broker Commission report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary by account report is requested: Account Name, Account Number, trading broker name, shares/units traded, commission expense base, principle amount base, average commission per share base, and percentage of principle base. 44. The method of claim 41 , wherein: the accounting information for the Broker Commission report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a detail by account/broker report is requested: Account Name, Account Number, trading broker name, detail Transaction Type, local cuπency, trade date, effective date, settlement date, shares/units traded, Security ID, Security Name short, principle amount local, commission expense local, average commission per share local, principle amount base, commission expense base, and average commission per share base. 45. The method of claim 41 , wherein: the accounting information for the Broker Commission report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when at least one of a detail by account/broker report, detail by broker/cuπency, and detail by broker/cuπency report, is requested: Account Name, Account Number, trading broker name, detail Transaction Type, local cuπency, trade date, effective date, settlement date, shares/units traded, Security ID, Security Name short, principle amount local, commission expense local, average commission per share local, principle amount base, commission expense base, and average commission per share base. 46. The method of claim 40, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Transaction Detail report is desired: a from date, a to date, a trade date, a settlement date, an effective date, cuπency, Transaction Types, all detail transactions, income transactions, income transactions only, expense transactions only, and non- principle cash transactions. 47. The method of claim 46, wherein the accounting information for the Transaction Detail report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: Account Name, Account Number, summary Transaction Type, trade date, effective date, settlement date, Security ID, Security Name short, shares/units traded, detail Transaction Type, local cuπency, net amount local, exchange rate, net amount base, and transaction descriptions. 48. The method of claim 40, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Corporate Actions report is desired: a from date, a to date, payment date, Ex date, Cuπency type, and Transaction Type. 49. The method of claim 48, wherein the accounting information for the Corporate Actions report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: Account Name, Account Number, detail Transaction Type, Ex date, payable date, transaction description, local cuπency, shares/units traded, cost local, net amount local, cost base, and net amount base. 50. The method of claim 40, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Foreign Exchange report is desired: a from date, a to date, trade date, settlement date, effective date, Cuπency type, and Transaction Type. 51. The method of claim 50, wherein the accounting information for the Foreign Exchange report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: Account Name, Account Number, detail Transaction Type, Security ID, local cuπency, trade date, settlement date, trading broker name, local price, net amount local, exchange rate, net amount base, and transaction reference number. 52. The method of claim 40, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Futures and Options report is desired: a from date, a to date, trade date, settlement date, effective date, Cuπency type, Transaction Type, and broker. 53. The method of claim 52, wherein the accounting information for the Futures and Options report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: Account Name, Account Number, Security LD, Security Name short, detail Transaction Type, trade date, settlement date, trading broker name, contract size, shares/units traded, expiration date, local price, local cuπency, principle amount local, other fees local, commission expense local, net amount local, exchange rate, principle amount base, other fees base, commission expense base, and net amount base. 54. The method of claim 40, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Purchase and Sales report is desired: a from date, a to date, trade date, settlement date, effective date, Cuπency type, Transaction Type, and broker. 55. The method of claim 54, wherein the accounting information for the Purchase and Sales report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: Account Name, Account Number, detail Transaction Type, trade date, effective date, settlement date, trading broker name, Security ID, shares/units traded, Security Name short, local price, local cuπency, principle amount local, accrual amount gross local, realized gain/loss local, net amount local, exchange rate, principle amount base, accrual amount gross base, realized gain/loss base, and net amount base. 56. The method of claim 1, wherein the accounting information includes data from an Asset Position by Location category. 57. The method of claim 56, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Asset Position by Location report is desired: accounts, dates, countries, locations, local Cuπency types, asset types, Security ID, summary report, detail report, and base cuπency. 58. The method of claim 57, wherein: the accounting information for the Asset Position by Location report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: account, account ID, awaiting delivery, awaiting receipt, base cuπency code, base cuπency description, base market value, country code, country description, coupon rate, report date, exchange rate, in transit, include pendings, local cuπency code, local cuπency description, local market price date, local market price, local market value, location code, location description, maturity date, pledged, position detail, pool number, registration code, registration description, at register, report format, Report type, Security dated date, Security descriptions, Security ID, settled quantity, sub-account code, sub-account description, total units, asset type code, asset type description, pledged account, pledged to, core asset type code, and core asset type description. 59. The method of claim 1, wherein the accounting information includes data from at least one of an Cash Statement and Custody Statement category. 60. The method of claim 59, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Cash Statement report is desired: accounts, Cuπency type, from date, to date, balances, balances with transaction statement, balances with transaction detail, cash account, transaction date, custody account, Transaction Type, Security ID, net amount, and cuπency. 61. The method of claim 60, wherein: the accounting information for the Cash Statement report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: Account Name, Account Number, income amount, asset type (code or description), broker commission, cash account (name or number), clearing broker (name or number), coupon rate, cuπency (code or description), customer reference, date, description (transaction code or transaction name), dividend/interest rate, ending balance, Ex date, change rate, factor, from date, income amount, dividend/interest rate, maturity date, net amount, opening balance, charges, payable date, pool number, price principle amount, record date, Report type, Security dated date, Security description, Security ID, settlement date, source tax amount, source tax rate, tax withholding rate, country, to date, trade consideration, trade date, trading broker (name or number), transaction date, transaction number, Transaction Type description, units, value date, withholding tax amount, country, and cuπency. 62. The method of claim 59, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Custody Statement report is desired: a from date, a to date, accounts, Transaction Type, Currency type, Security ID, summary report, detail report, custody account, transaction date, Transaction Type, currency, and Security description. 63. The method of claim 62, wherein: the accounting information for the Custody Statement report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: Account Name, Account Number, income amount, asset type (code or description), broker commission, cash account (name or number), clearing broker (name or number), coupon rate, cuπency (code or description), customer reference, date, description (transaction code or transaction name), dividend/interest rate, Ex date, change rate, factor, from date, income amount, dividend/interest rate, maturity date, net amount, charges, payable date, pool number, price principle amount, record date, Report type, Security dated date, Security description, Security ID, settlement date, source tax amount, source tax rate, tax withholding rate, country, to date, trade consideration, trade date, trading broker (name or number), transaction date, transaction number, Transaction Type description, units, value date, withholding tax amount, country, and cuπency. 64. The method of claim 1 , wherein the accounting information includes data from at least one of an Investments and Loans Outstanding category. 65. The method of claim 64, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Investments report is desired: an As of Date, Account Number, collateral Cuπency types, and open/term types. 66. The method of claim 65, wherein: the accounting information for the Investments report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: As of Date, printed on date, Account Name, Account Number, product, issuer name, principle amount, investment rate, original investment date, re-price date, maturity date, daily earnings, collateral cuπency, open/term, and SLM . 67. The method of claim 64, wherein the accounting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a Loans Outstanding report is desired: Account Number, As of Date, loan type, settlement Cuπency type, collateral Cuπency type, and Security ID, non-U.S. markets, U.S. settled securities, summary, and earnings. 68. The method of claim 67, wherein: the accounting information for the Loans Outstanding report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary of loans outstanding by account (non-U.S. market) report is requested: As of Date, printed on date, Account Name, Account Number, number of loans, total shares/par, loan value, collateral value, loan type, settlement cuπency, collateral cuπency, loan value, collateral value, open/term, and SLS. 69. The method of claim 67, wherein: the accounting information for the Loans Outstanding report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a loans outstanding by account (non-U.S. market) report is requested: As of Date, printed on date, Account Name, Account Number, loan number, broker name, Security ID, Security description, loan date, open/term, share/par, loan value, collateral value, loan type, settlement cuπency, collateral cuπency, loan value, collateral value, and SLS. 70. The method of claim 67, wherein: the accounting information for the Loans Outstanding report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a loans outstanding by account (U.S. settled Security) report is requested: As of Date, printed on date, Account Name, Account Number, loan number, broker name, Security identifier, Security description, loan date, open/term, shares/par, loan value, collateral value, loan type, settlement cuπency, collateral cuπency, and SLM. 71. The method of claim 67, wherein: the accounting information for the Loans Outstanding report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when a summary of loans outstanding by account (U.S. settled Security) report is requested: As of Date, printed on date, Account Name, Account Number, number of loans, total shares/par, loan value, collateral value, loan type, settlement cuπency, collateral cuπency, open/term, and SLM. 72. The method of claim 67, wherein: the accounting information for the Loans Outstanding report includes at least one of the following pieces of information when earnings by account (U.S. settled securities) report is requested: As of Date, printed on date, Account Name, Account Number, loan type, collateral cuπency, loan account, open/term, shares/par, collateral value, cuπency cycles earnings, and SLM. 73. The method of claim 1, wherein the News and Reporting information includes at least one of quotes, charts, and news. 74. The method of claim 73, wherein the News and Reporting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a quote is desired: ticker symbol, and Security Name. 75. The method of claim 74, wherein the quote includes at least one of the following pieces of information: market prices, cuπent price, high, low, last, open, close, volume, and annual high/low. 76. The method of claim 73, wherein the News and Reporting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a news article is desired: categories of information, key words, ticker symbols, Security Name, and company name. 77. The method of claim 73, wherein the News and Reporting information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information when a chart is desired: ticker symbol, Security Name, daily duration, weekly duration, and monthly duration. 78. The method of claim 77, wherein the chart includes at least one of the following pieces of information: high, low, open, and close. 79. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Compliance Information includes data indicating whether a securities transaction has violated one or more predetermined guidelines. 80. The method of claim 79, wherein the guidelines include at least one of (i) that no more than a predetermined percentage of total assets are invested in any one country; (ii) that no more than a predetermined percentage of total assets are invested in any one industry; (iii) that no more than a predetermined percentage of issued share capital is of any one issuer; (iv) that no more than a predetermined percentage of Net Asset Value is invested in securities rated less than a predetermined industry rating; (v) that no written options are obtained unless an underlying Security is held by a portfolio; and (vi) that a portfolio invests at least a predetermined percentage of total assets in debt securities. 81. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performance information includes data of at least one of the following reports: Add Hock Performance, Asset Allocation, Cash Flow Reports, Characteristics, Comparison Market Indices, Component Accounts, Corporate Action, Country Allocation, Fixed Income Allocation, Portfolio Holdings, Monthly Change In Index Value, Monthly Change In Portfolio Value, Performance, Portfolio Comparison, Portfolio By Country, Search, Security Allocation By Country, Security FI Characteristics, Security FI Listing, Transaction, Triangle Analysis, and Yearly Summary. 82. The method of claim 81 , wherein the performance information is presented as a function of a user request, the user request including at least one of the following pieces of information: accounts 506, indices, individual composites, multiple composites, market indices, duration range, trailing three month duration, year-to-date duration, trailing year duration, trailing three years duration, relative date, date range, from date, to date, asset category, economic sector, industry level, country, return display, annualized return display, and cumulative return display. 83 The method of claim 82 wherein the performance information is presented as at least one of a table, a spreadsheet, a graph, a bar chart, a pie chart, and a map. 84 The method of claim 82 wherein the portfolio holdings report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: issuer, manager, contract number, Book Value, percentage of portfolio, cuπent rate, maturity/duration, type, contract start date, contract end date, payout start date, total payments, and payments left. 85 The method of claim 82 wherein the asset allocation report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: non-US equity, US equity, non-US fixed income, US fixed income, cash and cash equivalent, US real estate, convertibles, and alternative instruments. 86 The method of claim 82 wherein the corporate action report includes at least one of the following pieces of information: Account Number, Account Name, Transaction Type, Security ID, Security Name, trade date, settle date, unit price, shares, exchange rate, BAC market value, LOC market value, realized gain/loss, commission, and broker name. 87 The method of claim 82 wherein the country allocation report include at least one of the following pieces of information: country, portfolio manager, market value for each country (by each manager), total composite market value for each country, and total market value. 88 The method of claim 82 wherein the monthly change in portfolio value report includes at least one of following pieces of information: composite name, portfolio Account Number, manager description, market value, net cash flow, market value, ROR, weighted flow, ROR, and percentage increase/decrease.

Inventors: CRONIN PATRICIA H, JOANNIDES SARA, CRONIN, PATRICIA, H., JOANNIDES, SARA
Applicants: CHASE MANHATTAN BANK NAT ASS, THE CHASE MANHATTAN BANK
Application year: 2000
Main classification: G06F17
IPC codes: G06Q30, G06Q40, G06Q50