[ T H O U G H T L E A D E R S H I P | F U N D G U A R D ] systems . Modern trading , front office and dashboards only work when they are powered by real-time data that is consistently , immediately and seamlessly integrated across all touch points . Not getting this right ultimately impacts end investors . And that ’ s why we ’ re here . Sure , we ’ re focusing internally as an industry on the banks and the asset managers , but our vision is to help our end clients and investors to efficiently and safely achieve their outcomes and goals . Speaking of the real-world risks of decades old technology and systems , Fund- Guard has recently published comments to the SEC in relation to current cybersecurity and climate threats , noting that traditional business continuity processes ( BCP ) and approaches no longer apply . Cybersecurity is one of the greatest potential threats to business today , financially , operationally , and from a reputational and brand point of view . Our industry manages tens of trillions in assets owned by over 100 million shareholders in the US alone . And while cybercriminals , for example , have certainly leapt ahead from a technology point of view , the industry has stagnated . This puts organisations and investors at risk . In the US , the major legacy fund accounting systems are all three to four decades old . They pre-date the cloud and have effectively reached the end of their life . They can ’ t easily or cost-effectively be updated to match client requirements or to make essential upgrades needed to prevent and respond to cybersecurity and climate incidents . Not to mention the ancient spaghetti code that is languishing in on-premise servers is basically an open-door invitation for cybercriminals . We must think differently about how we keep our investors , their data and their assets , comprising life savings and pensions , among other things , secure . Instead of updating BCPs , we need to look at how our back-office systems respond when there is an event . And we need to fight fire with fire , using modern thinking and technology to get ahead of , and stay ahead of , cybercriminals .
So practically speaking , what conversations should organizations now be having across their leadership , investment and technology teams ? How can organizations make the leap to real ground-up transformation ? Speaking as someone who has spent time on the technology side , leaders should look in the mirror every day and ask , “ If you were starting your business from scratch today , what would you do differently ? What tools would you use ? How would you approach things differently ?” And organisations as a whole should be constantly evaluating and asking , “ Are we still doing using the best tools , adopting those and really living that model ?” This is a journey , so today ’ s asset managers and their service providers must have a relentless discomfort with the status quo and be very comfortable with ongoing change . Change is not just a box ticked off the list . It needs to be a constant across your entire business model . Organisations that embrace the discomfort will be the ones to shape the future of investment accounting . Collaboration across the industry to collectively remove the pain and risk of back-office processes will enable each organisation to free up time and resource for true differentiators – and that is where the real benefits are ultimately realised .
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