MARCH 2019 The full-service investment technology vendor: … · 2019-12-12 · MARCH 2019 21...
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MARCH 2019 21 Sponsored Editorial increasingly reach out to firms such as SS&C Eze to figure out what else they should be doing. We’ve been in this business for 20 years, and have advised firms of all shapes and sizes in many markets, and we consider it part of our value proposition to be able to educate our clients on best practices. From an order management point of view, it’s cer- tainly about trade capture and trade order manage- ment, but increasingly it becomes a compliance/ audit trail and a portfolio modelling pitch. Many platforms used by traditional asset managers are outdated. At the time these systems were imple- mented, there were only a certain number of ven- dors around. Nowadays, there’s the opportunity to look at increasing efficiencies with stronger, more flexible and modern technology. We are doing a number of replacements of our competitors, and I think a lot of it has to do with getting products that can be more readily deployed in the cloud and have a nimbler infrastructure. Additionally, we are constantly adding efficien- cies into the order management and trading pro- cesses. For instance, we’ve completely integrated our execution management system and our order management system, allowing traders to perform pre-trade compliance without leaving their execu- tion desktop. This gets rid of the necessity to swivel between the EMS and OMS for traders, and ensures that compliance is an organic part of the process. This is especially important for larger institutional managers that often have multiple beneficial own- ership limits across portfolios. Being able to prevent trade mistakes ahead of time saves time and money. Fund Operations (FO): What challenges are long-only investment managers facing in 2019? James Griffin (JG): Traditional managers want to set themselves up for optimal performance. They want to concentrate on the areas that they con- trol — who they hire, vendors they partner with and strategies they deploy. It was proven in 2018 and years past that the market is unpredictable and highly competitive. This is the year where manag- ers are looking to rebound and separate themselves from the herd. The complexity of the strategies firms are having to deploy to seek alpha requires the traditional managers to hire new talent, implement new systems and spend more money. The challenge is navigating the inevitable in- crease in obligations from a regulatory perspective. The imminent implementation of the U.S. equiva- lent of Mifid II is one example. It’s very possible that 2019 will be the year wherein a level set of require- ments are communicated to the industry and SS&C Eze is already in the mode that this is happening, so we’ve taken the success we had deploying Mifid II solutions and deployed resources to prepare for what will be required in the US. We’ve already been through this with Mifid II in Europe, so we are confi- dent we’ll be able to get our clients ready state-side as well. In the traditional space, it’s no mystery that the demand in transparency is at an all-time high. These demands around transparency from investors fur- ther complicate the technical setup at these firms. The frequency of reporting and what these clients are asking of these firms, oftentimes on an ad-hoc basis, has required our clients to have processes in place where they can quickly respond to these reporting requirements. SS&C Eze and SS&C as a whole feel very well positioned to help current and future clients. FO: What concerns are your investment manager clients expressing at the moment? JG: It’s been the case that those in the traditional space have for a long time kept the same infrastruc- ture in place without much change in spend for quite some time. As such, these traditional shops James Griffin, Managing director, SS&C Eze Traditional shops increasingly reach out to firms such as ourselves to figure out what else they should be doing” James Griffin, of SS&C Eze, outlines the challenges for long-only managers in 2019 and how the right technology can help The full-service investment technology vendor: Beyond the OMS
Transcript of MARCH 2019 The full-service investment technology vendor: … · 2019-12-12 · MARCH 2019 21...
MARCH 2019 21Sponsored Editorial
increasingly reach out to fi rms such as SS&C Eze to fi gure out what else they should be doing. We’ve been in this business for 20 years, and have advised fi rms of all shapes and sizes in many markets, and we consider it part of our value proposition to be able to educate our clients on best practices.
From an order management point of view, it’s cer-tainly about trade capture and trade order manage-ment, but increasingly it becomes a compliance/audit trail and a portfolio modelling pitch. Many platforms used by traditional asset managers are outdated. At the time these systems were imple-mented, there were only a certain number of ven-
dors around. Nowadays, there’s the opportunity to look at increasing effi ciencies with stronger, more fl exible and modern technology. We are doing a number of replacements of our competitors, and I think a lot of it has to do with getting products that can be more readily deployed in the cloud and have a nimbler infrastructure.
Additionally, we are constantly adding effi cien-cies into the order management and trading pro-cesses. For instance, we’ve completely integrated our execution management system and our order management system, allowing traders to perform pre-trade compliance without leaving their execu-tion desktop. This gets rid of the necessity to swivel between the EMS and OMS for traders, and ensures that compliance is an organic part of the process. This is especially important for larger institutional managers that often have multiple benefi cial own-ership limits across portfolios. Being able to prevent trade mistakes ahead of time saves time and money.
Fund Operations (FO): What challenges are long-only investment managers facing in 2019?James Griffi n (JG): Traditional managers want to set themselves up for optimal performance. They want to concentrate on the areas that they con-trol — who they hire, vendors they partner with and strategies they deploy. It was proven in 2018 and years past that the market is unpredictable and highly competitive. This is the year where manag-ers are looking to rebound and separate themselves from the herd. The complexity of the strategies fi rms are having to deploy to seek alpha requires the traditional managers to hire new talent, implement new systems and spend more money.
The challenge is navigating the inevitable in-crease in obligations from a regulatory perspective. The imminent implementation of the U.S. equiva-lent of Mifi d II is one example. It’s very possible that 2019 will be the year wherein a level set of require-ments are communicated to the industry and SS&C Eze is already in the mode that this is happening, so we’ve taken the success we had deploying Mifi d II solutions and deployed resources to prepare for what will be required in the US. We’ve already been through this with Mifi d II in Europe, so we are confi -dent we’ll be able to get our clients ready state-side as well.
In the traditional space, it’s no mystery that the demand in transparency is at an all-time high. These demands around transparency from investors fur-ther complicate the technical setup at these fi rms. The frequency of reporting and what these clients are asking of these fi rms, oftentimes on an ad-hoc basis, has required our clients to have processes in place where they can quickly respond to these reporting requirements. SS&C Eze and SS&C as a whole feel very well positioned to help current and future clients.
FO: What concerns are your investment manager clients expressing at the moment?JG: It’s been the case that those in the traditional space have for a long time kept the same infrastruc-ture in place without much change in spend for quite some time. As such, these traditional shops
James Gri� n,Managing director, SS&C Eze
Traditional shops increasingly reach out to fi rms such as ourselves to fi gure out what else they should be doing”
James Griffi n, of SS&C Eze, outlines the challenges for long-only managers in 2019 and how the right technology can help
The full-service investment technology vendor: Beyond the OMS
021_022_FO03-SSC-Sponsored Ed.indd 21 3/14/19 4:33 PM
MARCH 2019 22Sponsored Editorial
In short, what we offer is a way to save money and increase efficiency, so investment managers can focus on generating profit. Those in the tradition-al space are looking for vendors that can support them not just from a technology perspective, but from an outsourcing services perspective as well. This trend has been good for us now that we’re part of a larger firm. We are able to offer a complement to our software through services, so that’s been a big ask in recent times. Middle- and back-office ser-vices and also regulatory reporting services are a further area we are receiving requests around. Every investment manager is looking for ways to slim down their costs. To do this they look to outsource different functions.
As a result, we are well-positioned in the market to accommodate this sort of consolidation.
FO: How are you changing your business to ac-commodate these needs?JG: Offering services is a big opportunity to com-plement the investment process and systems we deploy for the operational process. To complement this with human capital presents a great growth area for SS&C Eze.
We continue to find that use of Excel is still very prevalent for many in the investment space. Getting people onto more scalable solutions, and off man-ual processes that Excel typically drives, is another
key area of focus for us. A big question we ask when we go into shops is, ‘What is it that you do in Excel?’ We ask clients to show us, and what we often find is that the work they’re performing in Excel can na-tively be brought into a more institutional platform that SS&C Eze can offer.
FO: With technology, there is the obvious ques-tion of cost. How can the buy-side manage it most effectively?JG: Costs are everywhere. From our perspective, we try to add more in value to how we charge. We’re a cost-effective solution as is, and I think that when we standardize how we deploy and upgrade, that also helps save on future costs. If clients are trans-parent and ask the question of how their vendors can add value, they will find opportunities where they can increase their effectiveness and at the same time drive down their total cost of ownership. SS&C Eze prides itself on being a partner to our cli-ents, and we are a better firm when we learn more about what our clients are facing. We look at the various uncertainties in the current market place as a way to get more closely engaged with our cli-ents day to day. As part of the SS&C family, we have the opportunity to continue to identify ways we can help across all facets of a traditional manager’s business, and the tools to make their businesses truly efficient.
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