Investment Managers With Outdated Systems Lag in Performance: Survey

Forty-eight percent of front-office decision makers at buy-side investment management firms in a recent survey said they spent more than 15% of resources on manual processes in the front office.

For participants in this category, average performance ratings were lower in every case, indicating that a high degree of manual processes was commensurate with lower investment performance.

Asset management software provider SimCorp conducted the survey in December and January with firms managing a minimum of $5 billion. Respondents included chief investment officers or directors of investment management, as well as heads of a function, such as trading, or an asset class.

Only a quarter of those surveyed said they were confident that their front-office IT systems could automatically integrate data from external sources.

SimCorp noted that data originating from outside the front office, such as risk and performance metrics, corporate actions and collateral levels, were all critical to timely investment decision making and providing a complete and accurate picture of positions.

Eighteen percent of respondents said their ability to generate and view intraday positions was inadequate.