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Key Asset Management Trends Shaping the Future
Financial Services Review | Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Asset management is a dynamic field, subject to economic, regulatory, and technological changes. These factors will likely influence the industry in 2023 and beyond.
FREMONT, CA: Pressures in the competitive market are stronger than ever, and volatility stays for a while yet putting the responsibilities on smaller and emerging asset managers to find new ways to adapt. As the majority of organisations reassess operating models with imperativeness and look to differentiate their services against a backdrop of sustained pressure on fees and shifting investor product demand, the following trends are reshaping the asset management industry in 2023.
1. Inflation Persists
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The current inflation levels, which are at their highest in several decades, are causing a significant impact on the operational expenses of asset managers. These costs include technology and data expenses as well as salaries, prompting the industry to reassess its processes, operating structures, and technology expenses to control costs. Asset management firms are also seeking outsourced service providers, particularly for risk management, to increase efficiency. Although opinions vary on the duration of inflation, asset managers must find new ways to mitigate its effects. Some strategies, asset classes, and geographic areas that were previously overlooked are now becoming more popular.
2. ESG Reporting and Disclosures
The popularity of ESG funds has grown rapidly in recent times and is expected to continue in 2023. However, it's not just the amount of money invested that has increased. There has also been a rise in demand from policymakers for asset managers to provide more information and consistent reporting on ESG investments.
3. The Regulatory Onslaught
In 2023, the amount of work involved in meeting regulatory reporting requirements is increasing. Fund managers are now required to perform stress tests on the assets and liabilities of their funds, including the possibility of large redemption requests to mitigate liquidity risk. As a result, asset managers are having to dedicate more time to regulatory compliance than ever before.
4. Rethinking Data Strategies
Asset managers are reconsidering their data strategies to enhance operational efficiencies by eliminating internal data barriers and improving data quality used for portfolio analysis, client reporting, and regulatory compliance. Accurate and fast delivery of data is critical in current market conditions, where some managers are facing underperformance. The data also plays a crucial role in comprehensive performance and risk reporting. By swiftly aggregating data across various systems, managers can quickly identify the factors impacting portfolio performance, and assess risks and exposures in detail.
5. Improving the Reporting Experience
In the highly competitive world of capital markets, having exceptional reporting skills is essential to retaining existing clients and attracting new ones. Investors now value managers who can quickly respond to their requests and offer up-to-date information on performance and risk. Asset managers who want to stand out must offer more than just periodic reports; they must provide dynamic, real-time insights into individual security levels. Static reports are no longer sufficient for asset managers seeking to distinguish themselves from their competitors.
6. A Heightened Focus on Risk
Having strong and reliable processes and producing high-quality risk reports are extremely important. Asset managers should be able to provide various types of analytics such as portfolio sensitivities, stress testing, risk contributors, and liquidity, as well as performance contribution and attribute analysis. Implementing a robust risk governance framework is crucial for daily automated monitoring of regulatory and fund risk profile limits, which should alert managers of any breaches. These measures are essential for maintaining the integrity of the fund.
7. Providing Transparent Reporting
When investment performance is poor, transparent reporting becomes even more critical in retaining investors. Asset allocators have non-investment teams that value excellent client service, and their decision to withdraw funds from a manager may depend on this factor. Investors need to be assured that any underperformance is temporary, particularly in strategies that are prone to volatility and take time to deliver. Having confidence that there is no deception or hidden information is vital. Transparent and simple reporting is necessary to provide this assurance to investors.
8. The Squeeze on Fees Continues
Investors prefer low-cost passive investment funds, which puts pressure on active fund managers to lower their fees. In today's uncertain market conditions, active managers who do not perform well may face even greater pressure to reduce fees. To maintain profits, asset managers must seek operational efficiencies through technology and provide exceptional reporting to stand out from competitors.
9. Factors are Back
In 2021, it was a common belief that factors were no longer necessary. However, due to ongoing inflation and geopolitical issues, people's perspectives have shifted, leading to a reduction in global interdependence. As a result, investors are once again focusing on factors to gain a better understanding of their portfolios and the opportunities available in the market. This has resulted in a renewed interest in equity risk models, which are being used by asset managers to ensure that the stocks they purchase are performing as anticipated.
10. Technology Adoption
In a period of volatile markets and intense competition asset managers need to be nimble. Investment management software based on the cloud allows smaller and emerging asset managers to automate their risk management and reporting tasks, freeing up time for more valuable portfolio analysis and business development activities. This also improves the reporting experience for clients. In light of the current situation, asset managers must find ways to increase efficiency and reclaim time.
Asset management is a constantly evolving industry that is influenced by a range of factors, including economic conditions, regulatory changes, and technological innovations. While it is impossible to predict the future with certainty, the above trends provide some insight into potential developments that could shape the asset management landscape in 2023 and beyond.
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The expansion of cyber risks, the increasing sophistication of economic crimes, and digitization are driving a profound upheaval of the global financial ecosystem. Financial security services are now essential for safeguarding private information, online transactions, and customer confidence. The market for economic security services is growing quickly as financial institutions, fintech companies, and businesses are under more pressure to protect assets and adhere to strict rules.
Criminal actors use increasingly sophisticated methods, including social engineering, synthetic identity creation, and AI-powered attacks, to exploit vulnerabilities in economic systems. The implementation of AI in financial security services is a game-changer. AI-powered platforms can monitor vast volumes of economic data in real time, identifying unusual patterns and anomalies that may signal fraudulent behavior or a cyber breach. ML algorithms learn from historical data to refine detection models and reduce false positives, a common challenge with legacy fraud detection systems.
AI Adoption and Driving Forces
Several pivotal factors influence the growth and expansion of the financial security services market. From online banking and mobile payments to cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi), consumers and businesses now rely heavily on digital platforms for financial management. While these innovations offer convenience and speed, they also introduce vulnerabilities such as identity theft, phishing attacks, ransomware, account takeovers, and payment fraud. Organizations invest heavily in cybersecurity tools and managed services to meet legal obligations and minimize risk.
AI-driven financial security services, such as those offered by Pivot Financial , leverage natural language processing (NLP) and behavioral biometrics to detect insider threats, authenticate identities, and monitor transactions for anomalies. These tools enhance compliance accuracy, reduce human error, and streamline customer onboarding while maintaining high security standards.
Financial institutions are moving away from on-premises infrastructure in favor of cloud-native security platforms that offer scalability, rapid deployment, and centralized threat monitoring. Cloud security providers offer advanced threat intelligence and APIs that enable seamless integration with existing banking systems. The tools aggregate data from global cybersecurity feeds, dark web forums, and internal logs to deliver predictive insights about potential threats. Such proactive defense mechanisms enable financial institutions to stay ahead of attackers rather than simply reacting to incidents.
Industry Impact and Strategic Importance
Financial security services are no longer limited to fraud prevention. They now encompass a wide array of applications across the economic value chain. AI-powered identity verification tools ensure the legitimacy of account holders during the onboarding process. The tools use biometric verification, facial recognition, document scanning, and real-time identity checks to reduce onboarding fraud and meet compliance needs. In transaction monitoring, AI models detect irregular behavior, such as large fund transfers, rapid account withdrawals, or international money flows that deviate from a user's historical pattern.
Customers benefit from smoother onboarding, fewer disruptions due to fraud, and secure multi-channel experiences. For institutions, AI-powered financial security reduces operational costs, minimizes losses, ensures regulatory compliance, and builds long-term trust with stakeholders. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly adopting managed financial security services. Lacking in-house cybersecurity teams, SMEs rely on third-party providers for endpoint protection, secure payment gateways, identity management, and compliance reporting.
The proliferation of fintech companies and digital wallets in emerging markets also drives the need for robust financial security services. As these regions digitize, the threat landscape expands, making AI-enabled security infrastructure necessary for financial inclusion and economic growth. Governments and central banks in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are promoting public-private partnerships to strengthen national financial cybersecurity frameworks.
Challenges in Implementation and Solutions to Overcome Them
AI systems are as effective as the data on which they are trained. Institutions must adopt data governance frameworks that ensure access to high-quality, anonymized, and up-to-date datasets. Continuous learning and model retraining should be integrated into the security infrastructure to keep pace with evolving threats. Financial regulators require transparency in decision-making in cases of customer rejection, fraud claims, or compliance issues. Many ML models lack explainability, making it difficult to justify decisions to regulators or customers.
Many financial institutions operate legacy systems that are incompatible with modern AI solutions. Hybrid IT strategies where AI tools operate in tandem with legacy platforms while gradually migrating to modern infrastructure can ease this transition. Cybersecurity risks associated with AI tools themselves are another concern. Malicious actors can exploit vulnerabilities in AI models or use adversarial techniques to manipulate outputs. As such, institutions must secure AI pipelines, monitor for model drift or corruption, and implement robust validation and testing protocols.
Implementing AI-powered financial security requires substantial investment in infrastructure, skilled personnel, and ongoing maintenance. Financial institutions address this by partnering with managed service providers, investing in AI upskilling programs, and leveraging open-source AI frameworks to reduce costs. Data privacy and ethical considerations play a role. AI systems that analyze sensitive financial data must adhere to privacy laws and ethical standards. Institutions must implement robust data encryption, clear consent protocols, and comprehensive audit trails to ensure the protection of consumer data and compliance with relevant laws. ...Read more
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming industries across the globe, and equity research is no exception. Traditional equity research, which involves analyzing companies' financial performance, assessing market conditions, and generating investment recommendations, has been labor-intensive, relying heavily on human expertise. AI is revolutionizing the field by enhancing data processing capabilities, automating routine tasks, and providing deeper insights into markets and companies. Its role in equity research is growing, providing analysts, investors, and financial institutions with powerful tools to make more informed decisions.
Natural Language Processing (NLP), a subset of AI, is particularly useful for reading and interpreting unstructured data such as earnings calls, regulatory filings, and market sentiment. The automation allows analysts to process vast amounts of information in minutes, enabling faster and more accurate insights, reducing human error, and freeing up time for higher-level analysis. AI excels in predictive analytics, enabling equity research analysts to accurately forecast company performance and market trends. The models can continuously learn and improve their predictions as they process more data.
AI's ability to handle multiple variables simultaneously gives it a significant edge over traditional forecasting methods. The predictive power helps analysts and investors make more data-driven decisions, reducing the risks associated with market volatility and improving the accuracy of long-term investment strategies. Market sentiment plays a crucial role in equity research. Understanding how the market perceives a company or sector can significantly influence stock prices. AI-driven sentiment analysis tools can gauge market sentiment in real time by analyzing news articles, social media, financial blogs, and other public sources of information.
AI algorithms can quantify market sentiment by analyzing the tone of earnings calls, company statements, and public opinions on social media platforms. It gives equity analysts an up-to-the-minute view of how the market reacts to specific companies, sectors, or events. Analysts can better assess market conditions and identify potential investment opportunities or risks before they become widely known. Human bias is a common challenge in traditional equity research, where subjective judgment or emotional reactions may cloud decision-making. AI-powered tools help mitigate this risk by relying on data-driven, objective analysis.
AI-driven tools automate these processes, ensuring precision and enabling analysts to focus on interpreting results and forming strategies based on solid data. AI's ability to analyze large datasets and uncover hidden patterns allows for more personalized and granular research. Equity research analysts can use AI to tailor their analysis to specific investment strategies, risk profiles, or sectors of interest. By analyzing multiple data points simultaneously—such as company performance, market sentiment, and macroeconomic indicators—AI-driven platforms can generate customized investment recommendations that align with specific goals. ...Read more
Treasury management is broadly scoped and includes components controlling an organization's liquidity, investments, and financial risk. Changes are always present in the business environment, and new challenges and opportunities are within the boundaries of treasury management.
One of the significant challenges in managing the treasury of an enterprise comes in terms of the complex nature of global markets, primarily due to the involvement of different jurisdictions and, therefore, regulatory environments, fluctuations in currency, and geopolitical uncertainties. It makes mandatory more robust practices in the risk management system, thus using highly advanced financial instruments and analytics to anticipate and mitigate risks.
The pace at which technologies change has transformed treasury functions, especially fintech solutions, with new cash management techniques, advanced forecasting, and improvements in transaction processing. The challenge here is integration into legacy systems and data security. Treasury teams must balance the technologies with efficiency without hurting data integrity or security.
Some are starting to be noticed in the merger of treasury management. Another trend is liquidity management. For operations to be successful and growth actualized, organizations realize that liquidity has to be assured. With the importance realized, organizations have "dedicated greater attention and optimization to cash flow forecasting, real-time availability of information about cash positions, and optimizations in working capital.". Treasury professionals are now using advanced analytics and cash management solutions to respond quickly to changes in the market with better liquidity strategies.
Sustainability is becoming a significant factor in treasury management, too. More demanding stakeholders and their demands for more sustainable corporate practices mean that treasury teams must incorporate ESG considerations into investment and financing decisions. This is an opportunity but a challenge; these organizations want to stay invested in sustainability-related financial strategies. Treasury professionals embracing this shift can offer much in improving their organizations' reputations and building socially responsible investors.
The evolution of the payment system has led to changes in treasury operations. Organizations have long embraced the transition from using cash to digital payments and cryptocurrencies. The integration of new forms of payments by businesses has given the treasury teams the need to change their approach to minimizing risks associated with digital transactions and maximizing cash flow. This evolution allows organizations to modernize the process further, reduce transaction costs, and optimize the customer experience.
Significant opportunities exist for further advancement by incorporating artificial intelligence and machine learning in cash forecasting, risk assessments, and other decision-making processes. These technological advances will help treasury professionals reach new levels of market trend awareness for investment decisions and enhance general financial strategies. Additionally, the trend of treasury collaboration with other business units will draw toward a more holistic approach to economic management in general, thus resulting in increased synergy with the overall corporate goals. ...Read more
The expansion of a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO), or Institutional Investment firm is becoming increasingly intricate, mainly as investments in private and alternative assets rise.
Many Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and Outsourced Chief Investment Officers (CIOs) continue to rely on manual methods for handling data and reporting workflows related to their alternative investments. As firms expand their operations and acquire additional clients, the difficulties associated with scaling these manual processes become increasingly pronounced.
Challenges to Scaling
The following are the three primary challenges that we frequently encounter:
Human Resources:
In the realm of alternative investments that necessitate manual performance reporting, many Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and Outsourced Chief Investment Officers (CIOs) believe that growth can only be achieved by increasing the workforce. As the client base grows, so does the volume of alternative investments to manage, requiring additional personnel to handle manual reporting processes.
However, investing further in human resources complicates scaling operations while maintaining employee and client satisfaction. As fee margins narrow, firms face the tough decision of whether to recruit new staff or overburden current employees, risking both the quality of work and employee satisfaction. Firms like Count on Sheep provide strategic support to streamline operations, helping firms scale without compromising performance.
Technology Adoption:
Recently, technology vendors and service providers have introduced a range of solutions developed to reduce the challenges associated with manual reporting; however, these solutions remain highly fragmented. A universal solution for the unstructured data related to alternative investments has yet to be established.
Numerous Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and Outsourced Chief Investment Officers (OCIOs) have experienced disappointment with technology providers and systems that quickly become outdated as their portfolios expand. This unfortunate reality complicates the process of securing internal support for the adoption of newer products that address this specific issue. Firms often find themselves engrossed in the allure of the latest technology, losing focus on the problem that needs resolution.
Hiscox specializes in risk management solutions, offering institutional investment firms tailored insurance strategies to address evolving financial complexities and ensure long-term stability.
Scalable Processes:
A business that manages tailored portfolios for high-net-worth individuals or institutional investors primarily operates on a bespoke model. The nature of this work leaves minimal opportunity for standardization that could enhance service across the entire client base. Each new client presents a distinct array of needs, challenges, and data.
As competition intensifies among providers catering to alternative investors, firms increasingly promote their capacity to deliver highly personalized advice and services. This practice is both costly and challenging to scale. Beneath the surface of this marketing narrative lies the reality that such firms often resort to hiring additional personnel to manage the necessary manual processing. ...Read more
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