Updated industry classification data

If you’ve run a Sharesight portfolio report over the last couple months, you may have noticed a change in the way we display industry classifications. That’s because our industry classification data is now based on FactSet's global security classification scheme, instead of the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) that we previously used. This enhancement offers higher quality and more detailed industry classification data across all share markets in Sharesight.

Why the change?

Up until now the industry classification data that we have received has been published under a variety of different classification schemes depending on the share market. To work around this we have had to manually cross reference each of the various schemes back to the GICS scheme as best we can. Due to the widely varying standards this is a somewhat inexact process and has resulted in poor quality data for some of our international markets in particular.

About Factset industry classifications

FactSet’s industry and sector classifications classify companies into multiple, highly specific categories based on the products and services they sell and the sub-sectors in which they operate. The taxonomy consists of 21 Sectors which are further broken down into 137 industry groups. This offers a much more detailed and granular taxonomy to the 24 industry groups that are currently available.

New features

It is now possible to group reports based on either 'Sector' or ‘Industry’ depending on the level of detail required. Overriding the default industry classification for a holding in your portfolio will now automatically apply the update to any other holdings of the same instrument in all of your portfolios. This feature is available on the following:

• All Trades Report
• Diversity Report
• Historical Cost Report
• Performance Report
• Sold Securities Report

For more information, including FAQs on this enhancement, simply visit our community forum topic entitled updated industry classification data.

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