Increasing operational efficiency is the key priority for asset management, the latest Temenos Multifonds Fund Survey found.
In terms of the industry’s focus on innovation over the next 12 months, operational efficiency was highlighted as the number one priority, followed by development, digital channels, and risk management.
In total, 90 percent of industry participants surveyed said that operational efficiency will become an increasingly important focus.
According to Temenos, a further 91 percent said that improving operational efficiency plays an important role in increasing profitability.
Meanwhile, the survey also found that technological innovation in operational support is not keeping pace, with 94 percent of respondents saying that it needs to accelerate.
Additionally, one in four cited that fund administrators and transfer agencies are not currently keeping up with the requirements of asset managers.
To close this gap, 92 percent of respondents said that third-party technology providers have an important role to play in accelerating technical innovation, the survey revealed.
The survey also asked respondents to rank the key areas of innovation—in order of priority—that asset administrators need to focus on. Supporting new asset classes ranked as the number one priority.
This was followed by unlocking insights through data analytics, opening up new markets and jurisdictions, and increasing the speed to adapt to regulatory change.
Shortening the time period to produce NAVs and increasing client oversight and control followed.
Commenting on the findings of the Every Fund Survey, Oded Weiss, managing director of Temenos Multifonds, said: “Improving operational efficiency is now a key priority in asset management and an important driver of profitability.”
“However, the demands from asset managers on third-party service providers have changed due to a combination of factors—competition through digital channels such as robo-advice, increasing regulatory standards necessitating a move to real-time oversight, combined with increasing cost pressures as expense ratios have continued to fall.”
Weiss added: “To keep pace with the demands of the industry, third-party administrators now need to invest in the technology, data and services to help asset managers compete in the digital world, by opening up new asset classes, unlocking insights from data, improving the user experience, and increasing oversight and control.”
