[ O U T S O U R C E D T R A D I N G S U R V E Y ]
Back and better than ever
With an uptick in the number of clients taking part compared to last year , a new and revised methodology and formula introduced , and an average overall score sitting at Very Good , this report will reveal plenty of exciting trends over the next few pages .
After the introduction of the enormously successful inaugural Outsourced Trading Survey last year , The TRADE is delighted to deliver the second iteration of the only industry-wide client perception snapshot .
Brought to you in partnership with Ergo Consultancy , the second year has delivered some fascinating new insights .
Taking the top spot once again this year is Client Service and Relationship Management ( 6.28 ) sitting at Very Good , closely followed by Operations and Post- Trade ( 6.23 ) and Execution ( 6.22 ), with Coverage coming in close behind ( 6.21 ). In fact , over half of the categories covered in our research have been rated as Very Good ( 6.00 – 6.99 ) – seven out of 10 , to be precise .
On the other end of the spectrum is IPO Process and Allocations ( 5.33 ), a slightly revised category to our survey this year . It is worth noting , that although this category is the lowest scoring category in this year ' s survey , it is still firmly in the Good range ( 5.00 – 5.99 ).
As mentioned above , IPO Process and Allocations is one of three new - or reworded - categories joining our survey this year , the others are : Service Level Factors ( 6.16 ) and Cost vs Value ( 5.97 ).
When it comes to IPO Process , what we were looking to understand is how the process worked for managers and if they felt there was a benefit to using an outsourced trading firm to apply for and obtain allocations in IPOs .
The introduction of Service Level Factors is simply to add another layer to our Client Service and Relationship Management category . Here we are looking to measure the level of client happiness with providers .
Our last new category , Cost vs Value , is designed to assess whether clients believe there is value in their relationship with providers , even after the cost of onboarding , operating and running the outsourced relationship .
Elsewhere , across the board there has been a downward shift in scores compared with last year , with the exception of Onboarding which has remained static . We believe this comes down to the changing of the scoring system , given all the commentary and feedback is still on par with 2023 . Therefore , we suggest taking the year-onyear comparisons with a pinch of salt , and believe next year should provider a more accurate picture of annual changes in perception . The largest downward shift is for Execution Decision Support from Very Good ( 6.23 ) in 2023 to Good ( 5.91 ) in 2024 . Execution also declined by 0.32 percentage points – however this category still remains at Very Good with an average score of 6.22 this year .
It could also be inferred that the sector itself maturing and the rankings seeing a slight drop is a sign of sector maturity . Of course , this may mean that providers may need to find new ways to keep their clients engaged .
Despite these declining scores however , there is still plenty of good
32 // Outsourced Trading Handbook // 2024