Manual processing stings especially in the investment fund services industry. Order placement, confirmation, fund transfer and reconciliation processes remain dominated by little or no automation, says market research firm Aite Group. In one case, a fund management firm spends $812,460 (€600,000) annually on faxes for its Taiwanese investors—representing 30% of the total transfer agency bill… Read More >>
Remembering Lost Lives and Triumphs
As the media reported on the many moving events yesterday commemorating the thousands we lost on 9/11, I was reminded that you can always stop and just remember them in your own way whenever you choose. This suits me because Sept. 11, 2001 is a day that is present forever even a dozen years later.Like… Read More >>
Will Fidessa Spur New Vendor Battles via Post-Trade FIX?
Normally a front-office vendor, Fidessa has today officially embraced the FIX protocol for its Post-trade Confirmation Hub offerings, which facilitate FIX-based trade affirmations and confirmations between buy-side and sell-side firms. This follows the work of the FIX Protocol Ltd. to push the electronic trading standard beyond the front office. Perhaps Fidessa’s FIX move is a… Read More >>
Is Wall Street Becoming a Rigged Game?
Should investors and the buy side worry that Wall Street is a rigged game? A new survey of 250 people working in financial services finds that nearly one-third of them are ethically challenged. While the sponsor of the survey, the law firm Labaton Sucharow, wants to raise awareness of its whistleblower practice, some of the… Read More >>
Is the Cloud Causing Layoffs in the Back Office?
More buy-side firms than you think are moving IT infrastructures and operations to the cloud and then laying off back-office staffs. So says Todd Gottula, executive vice president and chief technology officer for Advent Software. Tighter margins are compelling firms to find efficient ways to “manage disparate systems” and the cloud option is getting popular,… Read More >>
Boston
Normally, this blog focuses on insights into very detailed post-trade operational and IT management issues that are key to what you do every day. I try to focus on what’s useful to you and I hope that I have succeeded in the past. For this post, I will take a detour and focus on what… Read More >>
The Trust Issue
Financial services firms in the U.S. and Europe have taken several hits when it comes to trust as revealed via public relations giant Edelman’s 2013 Trust Barometer. Recent scandals have turned the tide in favor of BRIC and Asia-Pacific firms, according to the Edelman survey. But these far-flung venues may not be the safe havens… Read More >>
Time to Dump Your Legacy Systems?
A survey of 125 financial services firms in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific, sponsored by SimCorp StrategyLab, hits on a tricky question for many firms—just when do legacy systems simply cost so much to maintain that to replace them would be more cost-effective? This issue is hitting home just when most firms are focusing their… Read More >>
Compliance and the Promised Land
One of the legacies of 2012—a tumultuous year by anyone’s standards—is that financial product innovation has been put on the shelf by the constant flow of new regulations (with more to come) and a weak recovery that has squeezed profit margins. Most firms have been quickly shifting their energies and budgets to compliance. In fact, as… Read More >>
Are Obama and Christie a Model for Bipartisanship?
I am cautiously optimistic about the bipartisanship of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and President Obama as they combine forces to help the Garden State recover from Hurricane Sandy. Could it be a model for Congress and the White House to work together on fiscal matters and financial regulation—even if it only lasts for the… Read More >>
