It goes without saying that good products are key to success for asset managers. Our advisor survey data, conducted in association with Horsesmouth, shows that the attribute that is most highly correlated with firm advocacy is “great/quality products.” In other words, advisors who view a firm as having high-quality products are significantly more likely to recommend that firm to other advisors.
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As regulators around the globe beef up their enforcement of best execution rules, wealth managers need to pay attention now more than ever. When trading assets, brokers are required to seek the best execution reasonably available to fill their customers' orders. Similarly, advisors need to prove that their client’s total costs (or proceeds) in each transaction are the most favorable under the prevailing market conditions. For wealth managers, meeting best execution mandates means having a systematic approach in place to report on these fiduciary responsibilities.
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Most asset managers recognize that their current compensation schemes are outdated. Gross sales commissions do not adequately reflect the health of the business and are falling out of favor as the driving metric for sales success. In addition, the past few months have seen a catalyst in advisor interest in—and even demand for—remote engagements with asset manager sales teams, which have highlighted that the metrics used to evaluate activity must also change. Our recent survey shows 56% of asset managers are considering changes to their compensation structures and nearly every asset manager is rethinking how to measure sales success.
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How does an alternative manager benefit from shadow services? Shadow accounting is when a manager directs or performs in-house accounting books and records to reconcile or shadow the books and records maintained by a third-party administrator. A manager performs these tasks for a variety of reasons—they may be required to by fund documents, or they want control and fast access to investment results, or they believe that they have a higher level of expertise in the strategies behind their business than the record keepers.
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Is your firm in scope for UMR? SS&C’s whitepaper, OTC Derivatives Workflow for Un-cleared Margin Rules in the EU and US, provides a simple flow chart to help you determine whether your firm is in scope, and for which phase.
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As investment management firms explore ways to lower costs and improve their operational efficiency, they continue to focus on opportunities to streamline the whole front-to-back office process. This presents a tremendous opportunity to transform the business so it is positioned to grow and have the agility to meet opportunities for years to come. While few disagree that an end state of having everything on one technology platform would achieve this outcome, the challenge is getting there.
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The global lockdowns and the associated economic downturn have triggered the innate human nesting instinct. Thoughts turn inwards as preparations are made to handle the current situation and prepare for the future. Across the globe, rates of household saving have soared and people are investing in pursuits that will improve their ability to ride out bumps in the road ahead.
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Funds focused on investing in firms with strong ESG (environmental, social and governance) profiles bounced back from the coronavirus-driven market sell-off in a big way this year. According to research from Morningstar’s Global Sustainable Fund Flows report, ESG funds hit a global record high of more than US$1 trillion AUM as of the end of June, with global inflows into sustainable funds during the second quarter of 2020 up 72% quarter over quarter. “The disruption caused by the pandemic has highlighted the importance of building sustainable and resilient business models based on multi-stakeholder considerations,” the report stated.
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