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Alpha FMC – 2023 Investments Survey

 
Alpha FMC - 2023 Asset Management Investments Survey
Thank you very much for participating in our Asset Management Investments Survey. Please fill out the following questions on behalf of your organisation. The survey has been designed to take around 15 minutes to complete.

Whilst we encourage collaboration with your colleagues, if you aren’t able to quickly locate the answer to a question, we suggest that you do not spend undue time and instead make reasonable assumptions/estimates. We look forward to sharing the results with all participants when the report is ready.

Background information

Profiling Questions

Current State Technology Background

Which of these is most reflective of how you support these systems? If a combination are used, please use free text field to provide further details

Current State - Undesired Effort

Across which activities, both for traditional asset classes and alternatives, are there currently undesired levels of effort in the Front Office?

Traditional Asset Classes ex Alternatives
Alternatives
Start of Day View (IBOR; Positions, Cash, other queries with Middle Office)
Overnight Compliance Resolution, or other queries with Investment Compliance
Security Maintenance (Security Master, Derivatives Lifecycle or other queries)

Benchmark / Index Maintenance (or other queries with Data Management)

Routine Portfolio Rebalancing
Routine Portfolio Construction / Optimisation
Pre-trade Compliance Workflow (or other queries with Investment Compliance)
Order Generation (if any degree of manual Order Raising forms/process)
Trade Exception management with Middle Office
Performance Measurement & Attribution queries
Data Sourcing to support e.g. Client Reporting/Servicing queries / RFP input
Whole Book View

Current State - Fund Manager time

Where do Fund Managers want to spend more time?

Satisfied with current time spent
Would like to but aren't able to due to time
Would like to but aren't able to due to functionality gap
No requirement/interest
Macroeconomic Analysis
Centralised Data Platform with clear data lineage, federated access and clarity of golden data sources

Government Policy Analysis

Centralised Data Platform with clear data lineage, federated access and clarity of golden data sources
Volatile Inflationary Environment Analysis
Centralised Data Platform with clear data lineage, federated access and clarity of golden data sources
New Asset Class adoption
Centralised Data Platform with clear data lineage, federated access and clarity of golden data sources
New Regional Analysis
Centralised Data Platform with clear data lineage, federated access and clarity of golden data sources
Sales Material Development
Centralised Data Platform with clear data lineage, federated access and clarity of golden data sources
AI/ML Investment Research
Centralised Data Platform with clear data lineage, federated access and clarity of golden data sources
AI/ML Trading
Centralised Data Platform with clear data lineage, federated access and clarity of golden data sources
Alternative Investment Analysis (satellite, seasonality, demographic, shipping)
Centralised Data Platform with clear data lineage, federated access and clarity of golden data sources

Current State - Skillsets

Within which of the following skillset areas are you, as a firm, looking to develop your inhouse talent pool?

Looking to Develop (Y/N)
Rationale
Industry Knowledge
Investment Research
Quantitative Analysis
Technology / Development
Change Function
Dealing
Risk Management
Performance Management
Data Science
Data Warehouse
Actuarial abilities

Enterprise Platform

Regardless of whether an Enterprise System is/is not currently in place, please respond to the questions below. Enterprise platform defined as a complete technology offering that is able to meet requirements across the value chain from the front to the back office
What is your current view of the potential or realised benefits of Enterprise Solutions?
Please rate all as applicable

Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral / Undecided
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Centralised Data Platform with clear data lineage, federated access and clarity of golden data sources
Centralised Data Platform with clear data lineage, federated access and clarity of golden data sources
Ability to flex headcount with growth and saving on team costs by streamlining required FTE
Ability to flex headcount with growth and saving on team costs by streamlining required FTE
Reduce the longer-term development ask for internal tech teams
Reduce the longer-term development ask for internal tech teams
Quicker time to market for new asset classes
Quicker time to market for new asset classes
Alignment to Standard Practice facilitating an ability to take greater advantage of other systems/suppliers in the future
Alignment to Standard Practice facilitating an ability to take more advantage of other systems/suppliers in the future
Greater standardisation will provide access to a wider talent pool of people beyond those with specialist skillsets
Greater standardisation will process access to a wider talent pool of people beyond those with specialist skillsets
Improved Data Quality
Improved Data Quality
Lean and nimble footprint
Lean and nimble footprint
Integrated operating model
Integrated operating model
Workflow based processes
Workflow based processes
Enhanced risk and performance analysis capabilities
Enhanced risk and performance analysis capabilities
Whole book View
Whole book View




What is your current view of the potential or realised challenges of Enterprise Solutions?
Please rate all as applicable

Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral / Undecided
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Annual Licence Cost
Annual Licence Cost
Implementation Cost
Implementation Cost
Time to Implement
Time to Implement
Implementation Risk
Implementation Risk
High Impact of Change
High Impact of Change
AUM Size too small
AUM Size too small
Over-standardization of investment process
Over-standardization of investment process
Asset Class / Security / Benchmark Coverage
Asset Class / Security / Benchmark Coverage
Inability to meet bespoke process requirements
Inability to meet bespoke process requirements
Data history
Data history


For the capabilities below, what is your level of awareness of current vendors' offerings?

Enterprise Platform capability awareness

Unsure, have not seen a demo
Aware of capability, have not seen demo
Aware of capability, have seen demo(s)
Current users of a solution
Not currently applicable to our business
Accurate view of portfolio investible cash
Accurate view of portfolio investible cash
Intra-day updated cash positions
Intra-day updated cash positions
Macroeconomic Research and analysis Capability
Macroeconomic Research and analysis Capability
Transaction related FX processing
Transaction related FX processing
Back Testing
Back Testing
Liquidity analysis
Liquidity analysis
API/Digital reporting capability
API/Digital reporting capability
Signalling and AI generated research
Signalling and AI generated research
Alternatives data capabilities (eg. satellite, seasonality, demographic, shipping).
Alternatives data capabilities (eg. satellite, seasonality, demographic, shipping).
Investment Behavioural Analysis
Investment Behavioural Analysis
Enterprise Data Management
Enterprise Data Management
Symbology/Entity Mastering
Symbology/Entity Mastering

Market Trends & Future Outlook

Which of the following themes are you currently discussing within your organisation? [please select all applicable]
What are the key market challenges you are facing today? [please select all applicable]
%
At what stage are you within your 5 years Front Office Technology Strategic Plan?

Next Steps

Would you be interested in attending a Roundtable to discuss the survey outcomes with your peers?
What additional topics would you be in interested in discussing in more detail, be it with Alpha individually or with your peers?
All survey data is confidential and will be anonymised in the report. Please tick here to confirm you agree with the privacy policy, which can be viewed here