KoCAA: A values-based investing partnership built on precision and trust

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors 

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors (KoCAA) is a faith-driven investment advisory firm managing approximately $29.5 billion in assets. With a mission to provide Catholic-compliant investment solutions, KoCAA serves the investment needs of its parent company, the Knights of Columbus, as well as a growing number of institutional and individual investors across the United States.  

The firm’s strategy spans both fixed income and equity, with every investment screened in accordance with the ethical guidelines set forth by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 

FEATURED PRODUCTS

INDUSTRY

Asset Management

LOCATION

New Haven, Connecticut

GOAL

Finding a benchmark that accurately mirrors the company’s investable universe

Traditional market benchmarks failed to reflect the constraints and intentions behind its portfolios, creating murkiness and making performance comparisons difficult. 

Collaboration with Bloomberg resulted in highly customized indexes tailored to serve the needs of the company’s clients. 

Bloomberg’s index solution was more cost-effective, without compromising on quality or service. 

The Bloomberg team has been highly collaborative, interested in getting stuff done, wants to work with us to make sure that we’re getting what we need.

James Gaul
Vice President and Portfolio Manager, KoCAA

Situation

KoCAA is carefully filtering investments to align with faith-based mandates. Over the past two the company’s monthly inflows doubling from $15 million to $30 million. Like many values-driven firms, KoCAA faced a persistent challenge. Traditional market benchmarks failed to reflect the constraints and intentions behind its portfolios. Standard indexes that included companies that KoCAA would never invest in for ethical reasons made performance comparisons difficult and, in many cases, misleading. 

Drive digital transformation across investment processes

Improve risk visibility across treasury and investment operations

Problem

Existing index providers offered limited solutions, which were often expensive, inflexible, or misaligned with KoCAA’s needs. What the firm required was a benchmark that accurately mirrored their investable universe, enabled clearer performance narratives, and reinforced client confidence in its approach. 

Existing solutions limited given price and lack of flexibility

Searching for a benchmark that accurately mirrors the investable universe

Solution

KoCAA engaged Bloomberg to build a custom equity benchmark that would reflect the firm’s unique investment universe, aligned with Catholic guidelines. Bloomberg brought both its proprietary data and third-party sources to the table, ensuring that the benchmark would reflect Catholic social and moral teaching with a high degree of precision. KoCAA also benefitted from the Bloomberg Industry Classification System (BICS), which allowed for detailed, hierarchical industry definitions that gave the company the control it needed down to the subsector level. 

Built a tailored benchmark

Developed precise screening using BICS industry definitions

Now we can spend our time focusing on decisions that we made and how that relates to performance, rather than benchmark structure, which is outside our control.

Nick Gentile
Interim President and Chief Investment Officer, KoCAA

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