Tom Secaur Discusses Robotics with Ignites

Is fintech hitting the back office office sooner than expected? Ignites’ Jackie Noblett explores the latest innovations from Northern Trust, BNY Mellon, and State Street as they invest in process automation to reduce the time, cost and risks associated with manual processing of fund prices. “For the most part, the activities haven’t changed a lot since the first mutual fund NAV was calculated. What we’re asking is, is there a better way to do it?” says Paul Fahey, senior VP in Northern’s Global Fund Services business overseeing the fund accounting lab.

Service providers, with their deeper pockets and operations expertise, are taking the lead in applying emerging financial technologies to the fund industry, says Tom Secaur, COO of consulting firm Citisoft. But several of the larger managers are also taking an active interest, from going on joint fact-finding missions to Silicon Valley and other tech hubs with service providers to setting up their own robotics or tech labs. “There’s a lot of buzz, but the proof is going to be in the pudding” in terms of better services or lower contract costs, Secaur says. And fund shops need to make sure they have a good understanding of precisely how the experimental technology is applied to their funds and corporate data, he adds.

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