Resources
Investment restrictions library
One page for every type of limit an investment policy, mandate or fund prospectus sets: how policies word it, how it is measured, the data the check needs, and worked examples computed by the same rule engine that runs in Acclimetry.
Each restriction page follows one of the 32 rule templates in the Acclimetry platform. The parameters, methodology choices and result codes are read from the product's registry, and every worked example is recomputed on each build: if the engine's answer changed, the build would fail. The methodology notes below explain the choices that decide whether two people measuring the same limit get the same number.
Test your limits in the Limit Checker
Allocation and concentration
Asset allocation ranges (policy ranges and rebalancing bands)
An asset allocation range is the minimum and maximum share of portfolio value an asset class may hold, usually set around a strategic target.
Issuer concentration limit (single issuer, single instrument)
An issuer concentration limit caps the share of portfolio value held with any single issuer, instrument or issuer group.
Cash minimum and maximum
A cash minimum and maximum keeps the share of portfolio value held in cash between a floor and a ceiling.
Sector, country and region exposure bands
Sector, country and region bands keep the weight of each named group inside an approved range, such as emerging markets at most 15%.
Currency exposure bands
A currency exposure band keeps the weight of one named currency, as a share of net portfolio value, inside an approved range.
Household and related-portfolio concentration
A related-portfolio concentration limit caps exposure to one issuer, instrument or counterparty across a set of portfolios, such as a family's accounts.
Minimum diversification (holdings count, top-N weight)
A minimum diversification rule sets a floor on the number of holdings or issuers, or caps the combined weight of the largest N holdings.
Benchmark-relative limits (active weight)
A benchmark-relative limit bounds the active weight of each group: the portfolio's weight minus the benchmark's weight.
Look-through exposure limit (fund holdings)
A look-through exposure limit measures a group’s weight after expanding each fund into its underlying holdings, so equities inside a balanced fund count as equities.
Credit and interest rates
Credit quality floor (minimum rating)
A credit quality floor limits how much of the portfolio may sit below a minimum rating, such as ‘no more than 10% below investment grade’.
Rating distribution limits
Rating distribution limits set a minimum or maximum weight for each band of credit ratings in a portfolio.
Duration and maturity bands
A duration or maturity band keeps a portfolio’s value-weighted average duration or maturity inside a range in years, such as ‘between 3 and 6 years’.
Eligibility tests (investment grade, listing, domicile)
An eligibility test is a condition every holding must meet, such as ‘investment-grade bonds only’, ‘listed securities only’ or ‘no bond maturing after 2035’.
Liquidity
Illiquid assets limit (liquidity profile)
An illiquid assets limit caps the share of a portfolio held in investments that cannot be sold or redeemed quickly.
Time-to-liquidate limit
A time-to-liquidate limit caps the share of a portfolio that would take longer than a set horizon to turn into cash.
Liquidity bucket limits
A liquidity bucket limit caps or protects the share of portfolio value in one liquidity category.
Leverage, derivatives and counterparties
Leverage and borrowing limit
A leverage and borrowing limit caps how far a portfolio's exposure or debt may exceed its own value.
Gross exposure limit
A gross exposure limit caps the sum of every position’s absolute value as a share of net portfolio value, so longs and shorts both count.
Gross and net exposure limits
Gross and net exposure limits bound a long/short portfolio’s market exposure as a share of NAV.
Derivative exposure limit
A derivative exposure limit caps the exposure derivatives create, as a share of NAV, under a named measure such as notional or DV01.
Counterparty concentration limit
A counterparty concentration limit caps a portfolio’s exposure to any single counterparty, or counterparty group, as a share of net portfolio value.
Collateral, margin, repo and securities-lending limits
Collateral, margin, repo and securities-lending limits cap the amounts a portfolio has tied up in financing and derivative arrangements, as a share of NAV.
Currency hedge ratio
A currency hedge ratio is the share of a portfolio's exposure to one foreign currency that hedging instruments offset, usually forward contracts.
Private markets
Private markets commitment limit (unfunded commitments)
A private markets commitment limit caps how much capital a portfolio has promised to private funds, as a share of its value.
Vintage-year concentration (private markets)
Vintage-year concentration is the share of a private-markets programme's commitments made to funds of a single vintage year.
Permitted, prohibited and screened investments
Permitted and prohibited investments
Permitted and prohibited investments define what a portfolio may hold: a permitted list names the allowed universe, a prohibited list names what is excluded.
Exclusion screens (ESG, ethical and sanctions)
An exclusion screen bars holdings that fail an ethical, ESG, sanctions or client-specific test, such as ‘no tobacco, controversial weapons or thermal coal’.
Trading, formulas and obligations
Turnover and trading-frequency limit
A turnover limit caps how much of a portfolio is traded in a period, usually the lesser of purchases and sales over portfolio value.
Custom formula limits
A custom formula limit tests a number that no standard template produces, built from named measures of the portfolio.
Custom data-field bands
A custom data-field band limits a numeric data field the organisation maintains, such as a credit-rating score, an ESG score or a risk indicator.
Composite investment rules (if-then conditions)
A composite investment rule combines the outcomes of other approved rules with AND, OR or NOT, so that a policy condition becomes one testable result.
Manual obligations and attestations
A manual obligation is a policy requirement that no calculation on holdings can test, such as an annual policy review.
Methodology notes
The measurement choices behind the limits: denominators, issuer groups, look-through, ratings, liquidity bases, derivative measures, warning bands and missing data.
Denominators: NAV, gross assets and total assets
The denominator is the base a percentage limit divides by.
Issuer groups and ultimate parents (LEI Level 2)
An issuer group limit adds together every security issued by companies under the same parent.
Fund look-through: compositions, staleness and unknown residuals
Look-through replaces a fund holding with its share of the fund's own holdings, so a limit sees the real exposure.
Split ratings: median, lowest, highest or provider priority
A split rating is when agencies rate the same bond differently, and a credit limit needs one grade.
Unrated holdings: not evaluated, below minimum, excluded or mapped
An unrated holding has no grade to compare with a credit floor.
Rating watch and outlook notching
A negative watch or outlook signals that an agency may downgrade a bond.
Liquidity bases: lock-ups, notice periods and classifications
A liquidity limit needs a definition of illiquid, and the registry offers eight bases, from days to liquidate to a liquidity classification.
Derivative exposure measures: notional, delta-adjusted, DV01, premium
A derivative limit must say what it measures, because the seven measures give very different numbers for the same contract.
Leverage methodologies: gross exposure, notional and borrowing ratios
Leverage is exposure divided by NAV, and the number depends on how exposure is counted.
Gross versus net exposure
Gross exposure adds the absolute value of every long and short position, while net exposure lets shorts offset longs.
Currency basis and hedges
A currency limit must say which currency a holding is in and how hedges count.
Warning bands and tolerances: hard and warning bounds
Each rule can carry four bounds: a hard minimum and maximum that define a breach, and warning bounds inside them that give early notice.
Headroom and capacity
Headroom is the distance from the measured value to the nearest bound, in the limit's unit: percentage points, years or a count.
Missing and stale data: not evaluated or conservative breach
When a rule's input is missing, the registry's default leaves the rule not evaluated: the partial numbers prove nothing, and no zero is invented.
Fixed-precision arithmetic and rounding
Limit checks compare numbers at their edges, where rounding decides the answer.
Turnover measures: the lesser of purchases and sales
Portfolio turnover measures how much of a portfolio was traded over a period.
Vintage-year data
A vintage-year limit caps the share of private market commitments made in any single year of the cycle.
Combined denominators for related portfolios
A related-portfolio limit measures one exposure across several portfolios at once, such as a family's trusts, companies and personal accounts.
Exempt asset classes
An exempt class is left out of a limit's measure because the limit does not apply to it.
Market value versus book cost
Market value is what a holding is worth today, and book cost is what was paid for it.
FX conversion and base currency
A percentage limit adds positions together, so they must all be in one currency first: the portfolio's base currency.
Benchmark weights and as-of dates
A benchmark-relative limit caps active weight: the portfolio's weight in a group minus the benchmark's weight, both in percent of NAV.
Screening data coverage and as-of dates
An exclusion screen needs a verdict for every holding from an approved source with a stated as-of date.
Composite rule logic: AND, OR, NOT
A composite rule combines the outcomes of other approved rules with AND, OR and NOT.