Asset class × form of holding — the orthogonality matrix

OpenIM carries two distinct classification axes, and they are orthogonal — they cross, they do not mirror each other:

• The asset-class axis — what economic exposure the investor holds. This is the E-09 Asset Class taxonomy: nine classes.
• The form-of-holding axis — how the exposure is held and instrumented. This is the entity model’s four specialisation packs: public-markets (a listed security), private-markets (a closed-end-fund-vehicle interest or directly-originated private loan), derivatives (a derivative contract referencing an underlying), real-assets (a directly-held physical asset).

A class is not a pack and a pack is not a class. One asset class can be held in several forms; one form can hold several asset classes. The matrix below walks all nine classes against all four forms and names, for each crossing that occurs, where in the model it has a home — the entity (or entities) that carry the holding and the Service Domain (or Domains) that own the capability. A — marks a crossing that does not occur in practice (the form is not used to hold that class); it is an empty cell of an orthogonal grid, not a gap.

The matrix

How to read the corners the orthogonality claim is tested on

• Hedge funds × private-markets (the hedge-fund-of-funds cell). A hedge-fund-of-funds is a hedge-funds-class exposure held in the closed-end-fund-vehicle form — it holds fund interests, runs LP-style commitments and distributions on the same fund structure a private-asset fund-of-funds uses, but the underlying exposure is a hedged / absolute-return strategy, not a buyout or private-credit one. The form (the fund vehicle, PM-01 / PM-06 / PM-09 / PM-13) and the class (hedge funds, E-09) are independent: the private-markets pack carries the form regardless of which class fills it, and the hedge-fund class capability is owned by SD-05.9 and SD-09.9. This is the cell that demonstrates the form-of-holding pack is not secretly a private-asset-class pack.
• Natural resources × derivatives. A natural-resources exposure (E-09 class) held synthetically through a commodity future (derivatives form) — DR-01, owned on the capability side by SD-05.12. The same class is also held directly (real-assets form, RA-01) and through a fund (private-markets form, PM-01). Three forms, one class — the clean demonstration that the axes cross.
• Fixed income × the listed-security form. A fixed-income exposure (class) held directly as a listed bond (public-markets form) — PB-02. The same class is referenced synthetically by an interest-rate swap (derivatives form, DR-02). Two forms, one class.

The empty cells (—) are where a class is not, in practice, held in that form — equities, fixed income, cash and the strategy-based classes are not physical assets, so the real-assets form does not hold them; there is no standing liquid derivative market on a specific buyout or infrastructure asset, so those class × derivatives cells are empty. An empty cell is the expected shape of an orthogonal grid, not a coverage hole: every crossing that occurs has a named entity-and-Service-Domain home above.

See E-09 Asset Class for the asset-class axis and the specialisation packs for the form-of-holding axis.

Asset-class breadth for the fund-issuing manager

The matrix above describes how asset-class exposures are held by an investor. A fund-issuing manager operates a second, orthogonal surface: the funds it manufactures, registers, prices and distributes to investors. These are governed by the fund-operations pack (FO-01 through FO-12), which is organised by the issuing-manager form of operation rather than by holding form or asset class.

The fund-operations pack is asset-class-agnostic by design: an equity UCITS, a bond ETF, a money-market fund, a multi-asset SICAV and an alternative-strategy fund are all described by the same FO-01/FO-02 structure; the underlying asset class is carried via the asset_class FK to E-09. The pack’s 12 entities cover the fund product and its share/unit classes, the investor register and dealing lifecycle, the fee and tax reporting surface, the service-provider appointment web, the distribution-channel economics, and the ETF primary-market mechanism.

Public-markets pack (PB — 11 entities) — reconciliation for the fund-issuing manager

The public-markets pack covers the listed-security instruments a fund-issuing manager’s funds hold: listed equities (PB-01), debt instruments (PB-02), and the full secondary-market trade lifecycle (PB-03 Order, PB-04 Execution, PB-05 Allocation, PB-06 Settlement Instruction), plus corporate actions (PB-07), income schedules (PB-08), index constituents (PB-09), securities loans (PB-10), and proxy votes (PB-11). For a fund-issuing manager, these 11 entities are the instrument-and-trade surface of the portfolios the issued funds hold.

A fund-issuing manager does not need additional PB entities to manage its fund-manufacturing activity — the fund as a product is FO-01, and its share/unit classes are FO-02. The 11-entity public-markets pack is sized for the instrument and trade lifecycle of the underlying portfolios, not for the fund-as-product surface, which is the fund-operations pack’s domain. The asymmetry (PB 11 < PM 15) reflects a genuine conceptual difference: the private-markets allocator form carries more structurally distinct artefacts (fund, commitment, calls, distributions, capital account, GP, legal vehicle, terms, succession, administrator) than the listed-security form (instrument, trade lifecycle, corporate action, income, constituent). This is a property of the form, not a coverage deficit. C8 (asymmetry justification) is met.

Derivatives pack (DR — 5 entities) — reconciliation for the fund-issuing manager

The derivatives pack covers the overlay and synthetic-exposure instruments a fund-issuing manager’s funds may use: listed derivatives (DR-01), OTC derivatives (DR-02), the ISDA master-agreement and collateral terms (DR-03), margin balance (DR-04), and clearing relationship (DR-05). For a fund-issuing manager, these five entities serve the funds that use derivatives for hedging (currency-hedged share classes, duration overlays, equity-futures replication) or as primary exposure instruments (multi-asset, absolute-return funds).

The five-entity count defers the transaction-grain contract model to ISDA CDM (which models the derivative contract lifecycle at full fidelity); the five DR entities cover the buy-side position, exposure, relationship and margining layer above CDM. A fund manager’s FX hedging of currency-hedged share classes is the highest-frequency use case: SD-11.3 FX Execution & Share-Class Hedging manages the programme; FO-02 carries the static hedged-class configuration; the per-period hedge P&L is consumed by SD-12.9 at NAV strike. No additional DR entity is needed for this surface because the exposure sits on the existing DR-01/DR-02/E-04 chain. C8 (asymmetry justification) is met: the derivatives pack is narrow by explicit design, deferring the transaction model to the published CDM standard.

Residual asset-class gap — C6 / C8 status

Against the nine E-09 asset classes, the fund-issuing manager’s entity and capability coverage is:

No C6 gap: the entity specialisation packs and the E-09 asset-class taxonomy tell the same story across all nine classes. No C8 asymmetry is unexplained: the size differences across packs (PB 11, FO 12, PM 15, DR 5, RA 5) reflect concept density by form and the CDM deferral respectively, each defended in the entity INDEX pack-sizes section and in the derivatives pack README.

Sources: E-09 Asset Class; entity INDEX pack-sizes section; derivatives pack README (overlay-manager derivation table); asset-class balance reviewer C6/C8 criteria.