Regulation, automation and financial crime compliance initiatives are top priorities for the investment management community in 2015, according to new research from SWIFT.
The survey assesses the current and future operational needs of the buy-side with a view to determining potential solutions around automation, standardisation and collaboration.
It was conducted in the spring and summer of 2014 with six of the ten largest investment management firms and their counterparts at more than 30 investment management houses from around the world.
The heavy impact of regulation on investment managers was highlighted as a key issue by SWIFT.
According to the survey, managing regulatory reporting and compliance is taking up considerable time and effort. As a result, less time is available to innovate and respond to new clients.
Inefficiencies in corporate actions processing was also singled out. SWIFT stated: “There is clear appetite for a single, authoritative source of reliable corporate actions information (perhaps as a shared utility), and greater demand for enforceable rules binding issuers.”
SWIFT claimed that a lack of standardisation is hampering post-trade efficiency, with communication between counterparties requiring a greater use of message standards.
A lack of standardisation in post-trade processing of transactions and the need for new forms of fund distribution support are also needed, according to SWIFT.
“This research into the investment management industry shows that there are visible pain points that operations executives will need to address in 2015 and beyond,” said Fabian Vandenreydt, head of markets management at Innotribe and the SWIFT Institute.
“With 90 percent of all assets under management connected to the network, SWIFT is uniquely placed to help the investment management industry address these evolving market challenges.”
“Collaboration is key and SWIFT is ready to help facilitate an industry-wide movement towards increased efficiency and standardisation for all market participants; lowering costs and improving visibility on cash and assets.”
