We’re one month into 2021 and it seems crisis whiplash has carried over into the new year. With a slight lull in the news cycle (surely, I’ll regret this presumption), it seems like a good time to think big picture about the direction of the industry. Last month, we published Citisoft’s annual whitepaper on trends impacting asset management which you can download here. Though trends in our industry move slower than a 12-month time frame, the development of new players, partnerships, technologies, regulation, and global crises (hopefully relegated to 2020) gave us plenty to talk about this year.
We always strive to bring the individual voices, stories, and ideas of Citisoft’s contributors to life in our Outlook paper but there’s nothing like a face-to-face conversation. With that in mind, we were excited to host our first virtual roundtable with an all-Citisoft cast. Our contributors shared some background on the trends we discussed in the paper, why they’re important, and what they mean for asset managers in the short and long term.
Click the link below to view the replay.
What did we talk about? Here are a few insights from our contributors:
Front-to-back services
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“As we head into 2021, we will be closely watching and, in some cases, participating in some of the pioneer deals that are transitioning towards a front-to-back platform with a single provider. The success of these deals will set the stage for those that are waiting in the wings to understand whether operating model simplification can truly be achieved through a single vendor or services relationship.” - Jenny Mynahan, Director of Business Development
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A new breed of asset management M&A
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“M&A deals that are focused on achieving economies of scale will have a lasting impact on the broader asset management community—accelerating the need to streamline operations, modernize technology, and reduce costs in an effort to consolidate merged organizations or compete with them.” - David Bates, Managing Partner
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Next generation data architecture
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“Managers are getting serious about pivoting from data architectures that rely on defined reports and processes to something more flexible and integrated. The building blocks of this approach lay in the cloud but, as always, the devil is in the details.” - Ben Keeler, Managing Director
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COVID-19 and remote culture
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“One thing is for sure, the office environment we know pre-pandemic will not look the same post-pandemic. Over the coming months, asset managers, service providers, and consultants must continue to push innovative approaches to maintain corporate culture and business continuity.” - Paul Migliore, CEO
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Shedding light on DEI in financial services
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“By almost any metric, the asset management industry has done a less than an adequate job in pushing for diversity and inclusion. What steps can be taken now to improve upon these metrics and move towards a more inclusive industry?” - Tom Secaur, COO
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