“If I see another high school football score, I’m going to scream,” said a municipal bond portfolio manager to Jeff Curie, CEO of Bitvore Corp., explaining why he was frustrated using Google to research school districts issuing bonds. Portfolio managers welcome the use of artificial intelligence to provide targeted information about obligors. This capability is now available, thanks to the integration of Bitvore into Investortools’ Perform. The result? Portfolio managers can better assess risks and opportunities in municipal bonds in much less time. Investortools interviewed Curie about how Bitvore integration makes a difference in the lives of municipal bond managers.
Research before Bitvore integration: messy and irrelevant
Every morning, municipal bond portfolio managers try to understand the context in which they trade and hold bonds. They read as much as possible before they get caught up in tactical operations. Today’s most common tools for monitoring municipal bond obligors, such as Google Alerts, are unwieldy and full of “false positives”—irrelevant information like football scores for searches about school districts that issue debt. “Very few of the articles are material,” said Curie. Readers often overlook essential information in the limited time they have available. Portfolio managers waste time and get poor information.
The same information overload plagues managers who try to update their research during the day as they consider trades.
Research after Bitvore integration: proactive, focused, easy to use
Bitvore integration in Perform screens out irrelevant information. For example, portfolio managers get information about toll roads that have closed due to financial problems, but not toll roads closed by traffic accidents, said Curie. The information flow is also tailored to portfolio holdings, sectors, and other specifics that the portfolio managers identify. Bitvore uses artificial intelligence that looks for over 300 material changes to narrow in on valuable information, said Curie.
Portfolio managers receive their news about municipal bond obligors when and where they need it. There are two main ways they access it. First, through a daily email personalized to their portfolio that weeds out irrelevant information. Second, through reports and screens in Perform that integrate relevant CUSIP-level news directly into their workflow.
