Institutional fiduciaries are charged with the important responsibility of protecting their investments. This responsibility takes on even greater importance considering today’s well-publicized growing trend of corporate fraud and malfeasance. It is incumbent upon fiduciaries to establish a monitoring system to ensure that every class action case in which a fund has a financial interest is put on the radar early and monitored through settlement and check distribution.

This is particularly relevant because institutional investors do not always prepare and file Proof of Claim forms which are required to participate in class action settlement recoveries. In fact, a recent academic study by Professors James D. Cox and Randall S. Thomas determined that only 28% of institutional investors are filing class action claim forms and are thus, potentially leaving billions of dollars unclaimed. As a result, many institutions are not maximizing recoveries on behalf of their investors. Enter Securities Tracker, Barroway Topaz's in-house, proprietary tracking and claims administration program.

Barroway Topaz is proud to offer institutional investors its valuable portfolio monitoring and claims administration services at no charge. These services, which we believe to be the most comprehensive in the field, are intended to allow our clients to more effectively fulfill their fiduciary obligations and efficiently track all class actions in which they have a financial interest.

Barroway Topaz's fully staffed Portfolio Monitoring and Claims Administration Department requests a five-year history of securities transactions from the client or its custodial bank, preferably in electronic format, and immediately integrates that information into its proprietary database.

Barroway Topaz then seeks to obtain monthly updates on transaction information. Of course, Barroway Topaz will work with the client and its custodial bank to obtain this information in the simplest and most expeditious manner.

New Cases: Whenever a new class action is filed and it is determined that a client may have suffered losses in that action, a brief, yet concise report which details the relevant facts, class period, jurisdiction, deadlines, and strengths and weaknesses of the case is provided to the client. In addition, this report contains the estimated losses suffered by the client and damages suffered by the class (when available at this early stage), and a recommendation for how the client should proceed.

Quarterly Reports: Barroway Topaz will also issue to its clients for whom it monitors, a quarterly report which details the status of each class action in which a client has a financial interest, regardless of whether the client is a lead plaintiff. The report further provides updates on all settled cases as well as cases which have been dismissed.

Lead Plaintiff Documents: If a client has an active role in a case, all documents related to that action are immediately available for client review.

Settlement Chart: A personalized settlement chart, updated bi-weekly, allows clients to see every dollar that Barroway Topaz has recovered from class actions settlements on behalf of the fund.

Claims Administration: After a settlement is announced in which a client has suffered losses, Barroway Topaz will complete and file the necessary claim forms at NO COST and will follow through on those filings until the claims are paid. (Note: If a client's custodian or other third party is already filing claim forms, we will audit those filings to ensure nothing is missed.)

The Securities Tracker portfolio monitoring and claims administration program now provides complete, secure online access. All clients have secure online access to information necessary to properly monitor actions in which they: (i) serve as a plaintiff; (ii) have a financial interest worth tracking; and/or (iii) have filed proof of claim forms in connection with settlements.

This service allows clients to maintain information on the cases they have an interest in and the settlement claims filed in one location where it can be retrieved easily at all times and provides instant access to this information via the internet by multiple people in your organization.

Site Capabilities Recap

• All case summaries are viewable and downloadable (in both alphabetical and chronological format).
• All quarterly reports are viewable and downloadable.
• For proofs of claim that have been filed, the client may view those claims and determine the status of approval and payment.
• If the client is serving as a plaintiff or representative party in an action, the client may view (and download) all significant court filings and update letters for that case.
• E-mail alerts are sent to clients each time new information relevant to their investments is posted on the site.

• Each client may have up to three (3) unique usernames and passwords.
• The site is secured with 256 bit SSL encryption to insure that your information is safe and secure.
• No transaction data is kept on the site.