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FinTech Trends Newsletter Week 29th Jan – 2nd Feb 2018
Are you a good candidate for Hedge Fund IT & Compliance Technology Function Outsourcing ?
Many small hedge funds, asset managers and wealth management firms are seeing big returns from outsourcing their IT and compliance functions. This weeks blog describes how to tell if outsourcing makes sense for your firm. The fundamental reason to outsource all or part of your IT infrastructure is to allow you and your key team to focus on those areas you truly shine: serving the client and running your firm. Outsourcing isn’t always a remedy but can have a positive impact on your ability to improve both your operations and client support. Below are some questions to ask yourself when considering whether or not your firm is a good candidate for hedge fund IT and compliance technology function outsourcing.
How big is your firm? – IT Outsourcing can have a positive impact on large firms but small-to-medium sized firms tend to have the greatest immediate return. These firms tend to have IT people and staff who are already stretched thin, often working in areas in which they are less familiar or where they don’t have high levels of competence. Generally you’ll see the greatest ROI in firms with the fewest number of operational team members.
Is your firm growing quickly? – Particularly for smaller firms, the fact that you are growing as a company and/or your performance is hot might make you a great candidate. Outsourcing all or part of your IT infrastructure can deliver instant additional capacity and better controls around your growth. IT Outsourcing also avoids redundancy of staff and frees you to focus on client support and areas that effect your firm’s profitable growth. Also moving your monthly expenditure from CapEx to OpEx will help you manage budgets easier, could significantly cut costs and will enable you to utilise a whole team of specialist and certified IT and technology staff instead of directly hiring employees, centrally focused, internally on your firm.
Do your IT queries get attended to quickly, effectively and efficiently ? – Time, speed and performance are essential in successfully supporting financial services clients. If you are finding that your IT queries aren’t getting attended to quickly, effectively and efficiently enough as they should be, it is likely a sign that you may not have adequate expertise in place. This is often due to staff members wearing too many hats or working in areas outside their strengths. It is difficult to invest the requisite amounts to build a world-class IT operation. Giving this work to specialists can improve the quality of the IT queries being rectified more quickly and projects being completed on time, whilst freeing staff up to spend more time with clients and their strengths.
Are you having a tough time retaining your people? – This might be a sign you have people not receiving the opportunities they are seeking in investment management. Due to the small size of the firm, you will find people working in the operations, IT and compliance areas, when their intent was to be an analyst or portfolio manager. By delegating these IT, operations and compliance technology roles to a quality outsourcing and Managed Service Provider firm, like Storm IT Financial, your future hires will be more aligned with your business and you will retain your people longer.
Finally, are you at risk of the ‘”Key Person” syndrome? – Is much of the information critical to running your IT infrastructure of the business concentrated in the hands of a one or two people? This leaves you with a lot of risk if that person leaves or is out of action for a substantial period. Partnering with a strong IT & Technology Managed Service Provider outsourcer assures you that the processing knowledge critical for your firm does not walk out the door when an employee leaves you. Multiple people will be able to step in to
take over seamlessly, processes will be documented and controls will be in place to ensure consistent processing regardless of turnover. Outsourcing all or part of your IT and compliance technology functions offers the potential to both improve the quality of your firm’s infrastructure and also to support the growth and scalability of your business.
If some or all of the questions above describe your firm, it could be worthwhile contacting Storm IT Financial to find out more information on Hedge Fund, Asset Management, Private Equity & Alternative Investment Regulatory & Compliant Solutions , IT helpdesk support, data storage & management, disaster recovery, back up, cybersecurity, hosted & managed solutions and cloud & IT.
Storm IT Financial FinTech News & Trends picks: Week 29th Jan – 2nd Feb 2018
Microsoft margins head for the cloud
The cloud wars are not as brutal as expected, at least if you are Microsoft with companies shifting their data to tech giants’ server services:
http://www.afr.com/technology/microsoft-margins-head-for-the-cloud-20180201-h0rxff
Synetec: Data is ‘the new oil’
Data, like oil, has huge inherent value, yet difficult to access and refine to realise it’s true value:
http://www.synetec.co.uk/data-is-the-new-oil/
Cloudy with no chance of pain: Bring back job satisfaction with digital experience monitoring in the cloud
GSX CEO says being in the cloud requires a new set of metrics, information and governance:
Robotics will transform asset management. Is your job on the line?
The ability of AI tools to analyse vast data pools and pick out trends and trade off the back of them has captured people’s imagination:
The seven key GDPR challenges facing wealth firms
The key challenges for the wealth industry as cost of compliance rises.
MiFID II was a compromise, but the UK will lead the way with MiFID IIIsays politician Kay Swinburne
The UK’s voice of the City has said that legislators are already planning to overhaul a massive new piece of regulation which came into force earlier this month.
http://www.cityam.com/279765/mifid-ii-compromise-but-uk-lead-way-mifid-iii-says
Thomson Reuter Risk Infographic
FinTech, RegTech and the role of Compliance infographic:
BBH: What regulatory changes can asset managers expect in 2018?
Brown Brothers Harriman’s 2018 Regulatory Field Guide is here:
The changing landscape; How to use RegTech and make regulatory:
Interesting paper from PWC shows how RegTech can be used to turn regulatory compliance into an advantage:
Four RegTech trends of 2017
2017 was tipped to be a big year for RegTech, with the beginning of tech-enabled transformation of operations:
There’s a raging ‘war for talent’ as banks take on fintechs
Europe’s FinTech startups are on hiring mode, fighting each other and the incumbents in a “war for talent”:
UK’s new watchdog shows AML instinct
The UK launches a new watchdog to strengthen nation’s defences against money laundering & terrorist financing:
