FundForum: Much has changed for the back office 26 June 2019Copenhagen Reporter: Jenna Lomax
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Much has changed in recent years for the back office in the asset servicing industry, according to a panellist at this year’s FundForum in Copenhagen.
The panellist, who was describing the course of change in the back office over the last 10 years explained that the change has happened at an “unprecedented pace”.
He said: “There are far more complex regulation types and transaction processes now, that are being carried out in a real-time and accurate basis, at a much lower cost. The level of complexity has gone up and will continue to go up.”
Another panellist tackled that notion and said that other parts of the industry see us, the back office “as dinosaurs when we talk about technology”.
He added: “People want customisation, their own services and we have to adapt, the one size fits all notion is over. It’s been difficult in recent years to differentiate from competitors.”
“We have seen a true structural innovation and complete disruption in some areas of the industry, but it’s fair to say that maybe in asset servicing we, as an industry, have not had that yet. The question is around operational efficiency, when it comes down to it, we have to boost our sales, using artificial algorithms to predict failed trades on certain patterns is a start.”
Another panellist said: “We need to use these tremendous opportunities in technology for insight, using these technologies, we can automate traditionally manual tasks.”
The moderator also asked the panel for advice on innovation in the back office.
One speaker said: “Costs are significant, also many banks are starting to behave more like technology firms. I would advise to experiment, fail fast–if you’re not doing that it’s not good for the long-term of your business.”
Another panellist added: “Don’t aim for the moon, small victories bring a lot more value.”
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