Technology opportunities in the Future of Asset Management

By Andrew Blake, Liqueo Senior Consultant

Background

The asset management industry is facing new and ever-present challenges. In order to maintain market share, be competitive and thrive in the future, firms need to adapt their outlook and strategies to the ever-changing economic landscape. Fee compression, increased competition, regulatory controls and reduced margins are forcing companies to re-evaluate their product selection and asset class coverage. 

To help companies better retain existing clients and attract new business whilst continuously generating alpha a shift in product focus is needed. Traditional asset classes of equity, fixed income and cash-based products must now share space with alternative products such as private equity, active ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) assets, crypto, multi-asset, real estate, commodities and an increased use of derivatives.

The role of technology

Increasingly, technology and data are of paramount importance within this transition and approach. Systems and processes need to become more scalable and adaptable from front to back office, including post transaction reporting. Speed-to-market and straight through processing are key factors in allowing firms to react to ever-changing market conditions without the reliance and interdependence of legacy systems. Technology needs to be at the forefront of this transition, with business and technology teams closely aligned.

If done correctly, this allows firms to become more agile and adaptable in the strategies they can adopt and their investment product focus. With the correct technology solutions in place, firms can also capitalise on the benefits of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) that will arise when technology is implemented successfully. Ultimately, this places companies in the best position to launch new investment products on time.

Migration to cloud services

Asset management companies are continuously evaluating the software tools used to implement their day-to-day business processes. In a bid to improve integration, security and data quality, reduce costs and streamline the upgrade process, recent trends are shifting from traditional on-premises vendor implementations to managed service products using cloud technology with open architecture. This approach also allows firms to adopt a ‘data first strategy’ which is being driven by emerging trends such as ESG, addressing data fragmentation and disparate versions of the truth. This is coupled by the drive to reduce costs associated with data scrubbing by using AI, automation and machine learning.

Software migrations of this scale and magnitude are very complex in nature and require close collaboration between the business and technology specialists to ensure a successful delivery.

How Liqueo can help

Here at Liqueo, we provide organisations with the skills to implement programmes successfully through our flexible workforce model, tailoring solutions for our clients’ strategic goals. We deliver an exceptional service to every client via a dynamic and agile framework. If you are interested in how we can help you implement bespoke successful programmes or want more information about the push to simplify and streamline, contact us.