In our recent "Outsourcing Middle- and Back-Office Functions: An Assessment of Perceived Experience" survey, conducted in partnership with Global Custodian, we learned that firms who have already outsourced at least one function successfully are more likely to outsource additional functions. We asked 250 firms across the US, UK and Europe about their satisfaction with their current outsourcing arrangements and whether they planned to expand that outsourcing in the future. Of the 250 firms, 68% were asset management firms, including both hedge funds and traditional asset management firms. We identified some regional differences, like a larger proportion of traditional asset management firms in the UK and a larger proportion of hedge funds in Europe.
UK respondents were more likely than their European counterparts to cite greater ability to scale and greater efficiency as important factors in their outsourcing decision-making. All of the European respondents had outsourced already, while 9% of UK respondents had not. Of the participants who had outsourced in the past, 39% of UK participants had already increased the functions they were outsourcing, compared to 28% of European participants reporting that they had already increased outsourcing.
When we asked participants what issues they think are likely to inhibit outsourcing at their respective organizations, UK respondents cited initial cost (40%), loss of control (31%) and internal resistance (21%) as their top three inhibiting factors. Meanwhile, European respondents cited loss of control (41%) and initial cost (33%) as their main concerns.
Read our "Attitudes Shift Towards Increased Outsourcing in the US" blog to learn more about the US preferences revealed by our research. Download the full "Outsourcing Middle- and Back-Office Functions: An Assessment of Perceived Experience" report for our overall findings.
