Some 79 percent of North American buy-side heads of operations state their top strategic priority for 2019 will be to decrease operating cost and improve operating leverage, according to a new report by SimCorp.
The findings were published in SimCorp’s third annual 2019 North American InvestOps Report which also found some 69 percent of heads of operations stated consolidating systems and reducing system interfaces would be their main focus for 2019.
A further 80 percent of North American buy-side heads of operations cited increasing accessibility and accuracy of data to support the front, middle and back office as their approach and priority for 2019.
More than 60 percent of North American heads of operations said they aim to pursue system consolidation through a front-to-back office solution offered as a platform or a service, rather than a similar front to back offering from a custodian (29 percent).
SimCorp said: “Despite the recent industry mergers and acquisitions, this can be considered as due caution shown by buy-side operations. Particularly regarding the degree of integration these vendors or outsourcers can achieve, when piecing together disparate and acquired technologies, to create a true front to back offering.”
Some 100 North American heads of operations, across sectors including asset management, pensions and insurance took part in the report.
SimCorp said the report comes at a time of “heightened market complexity, with the rapid proliferation of alternatives and illiquid assets, together with ever-tightening margin pressures, placing a greater spotlight on costs”.
Jamie Corrigan, managing director and executive vice president of SimCorp North America, commented: “Our view has always been that the ability to support multi-asset investing can be simplified and made far more cost-efficient, with a consolidated technology strategy, embracing all asset classes on a single platform.”
He added: “This is evident in our one system approach since inception. It is encouraging to see that in both this report and in previous years, there is a decided and growing trend of operations leaders recognising consolidation can achieve strategic priorities.”
“With agile delivery significantly mitigating transformational risk and technology innovation that provides advanced analytics, real-time data and comprehensive functionality, we feel those obstacles are long gone. The question operations leaders should ask themselves is not if and when to consolidate but how.”
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