The ubiquity of the annual management charge (AMC) has permeated throughout the Life, Pensions & Funds Universe since my initiation into the Industry some twenty-five years ago.
The objective of documenting the operating model is to communicate how the business works, or will work, both operationally and technically. A good operating model diagram will also serve to identify operational bottlenecks; uncover responsibility gaps or risks; or highlight fragmentation of data management, systems or functions.
Almost every business has to accept that some of their products or services will reach a “legacy” status at some point – where they are closed for new business – and the focus has moved on to other live products. Few organisations deal with the legacy book effectively or efficiently, which is unlikely to be a suitable outcome for clients.
Like any happy relationship the key to a successful outsource partnership often comes down to communication, cultural & strategic alignment, trust and hard work.
With the significant majority of asset managers now using an outsourced model for administration services, ensuring the right level of service is received from suppliers is high on the agenda for most asset management firms. Service credits provide an input to achieving this, by putting at risk an agreed percentage (usually 5-15%) of the supplier’s fees, linked to the supplier’s performance against a predetermined set of KPIs.
With more and more investment managers outsourcing their middle office there is a burgeoning cottage industry within IT departments dedicated to creating solutions for tracking, monitoring and managing trades sent to outsource providers.
To what extent should asset managers tailor products to individual investor needs?
In both good times, when inflows are plentiful, and in the not so good times, when assets are harder to raise, there is a temptation for asset managers to bend over backwards to meet individual investor demands in order to secure new money for their funds.
Increasingly software vendors and industry figures are hyping IBOR as the solution to many familiar IT and data problems, but is that really the case?
