Overcoming the historic issues associated with legacy
technology has been a significant hurdle for many
asset managers, but the combination of new regulatory
developments and emerging technologies are presenting
the buy-side with fresh opportunities to move forward.
A
mara’s law states that we tend to over-
estimate the effect of technological
change in the short run and underes-
timate it in the long run. An initial peak of
inflated expectations is followed by a trough
of disillusionment as progress appears to halt.
A gradual slope of enlightenment follows,
finally giving way to a plateau of productivity.
The overhaul of legacy buy-side systems
is following this pattern, as predicted by the
American scientist and futurist, Roy Amara.
Many buy-side tech stacks were most recent-
ly reviewed to improve trade cost analysis
capabilities following the implementation of
MiFID II. The change was billed as a funda-
mental shift in the capabilities of institutions
to measure and improve performance using
an arsenal of analytical tools and data.
Initial hype has given way to cold reality.
The limitations of new technological pro-
cesses are clear, argues Kevin O’Neill, global
head of buy-side at client lifecycle man-
agement vendor, Fenergo. “With so much
discussion about cutting-edge financial
technologies, you’d be forgiven for thinking
the entire financial services sector is com-
pletely high-tech,” he says.
“But the truth is, much of the industry is still
heavily weighed down by manual processes.
Buy-side firms can spend anywhere from two
to 34 weeks onboarding a new client. It’s a time
consuming and arguably superfluous process,
which often entails duplicating information
requests to investors for compliance purposes.”
Project management
Smarter project management is the key to
breaking the log-jam. As an ambitious senior
manager at PwC, Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez
proposed setting up a project management
advisory practice and was called into an office
in 2006 expecting to be given the green light,
and maybe even be made a partner. Instead,
he was told that his proposal had little strate-
gic relevance and that he was fired.
Since then, he has made a career managing
projects for a range of multinationals and was
head of post-merger integration at Fortis Bank
during the acquisition of ABN Amro. In his
book The Project Revolution, Nieto-Rodriguez
“Much of the industry is still heavily weighed down by
manual processes. Buy-side firms can spend anywhere
from two to 34 weeks onboarding a new client. It’s a
time consuming and arguably superfluous process.”
KEVIN O’NEILL, FENERGO
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