While the full value of the technology continues to become apparent, it’s already clear that AI has enormous potential to accelerate and streamline data processes, with the promise of substantial productivity gains and competitive advantage. But, although AI adoption is a high priority for many firms, concerns about lack of expertise, security and trust may be encouraging organisations to take a more cautionary approach.

To explore these themes, this spring A-Team and Rimes Technology conducted a survey of senior data management and operations officers, including front-office data chiefs and portfolio management staff at 17 buy-side firms. The survey offers insight into:

• How buy-side institutions and institutional investors are managing their AI transformation
• Financial institutions’ attitudes and goals regarding the implementation of AI
• Their progress in achieving those targets
• The pain points that they are encountering
• The factors that are holding back those firms that have been slower to adopt AI capabilities.

In short, the survey represents an objective snapshot of attitudes and approaches towards AI among financial institutions as they grapple with the many issues – and potential benefits – this emerging technology has to offer.

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As organisations navigate a more volatile global financial picture, many are tacking towards a multi-asset business model that demands new capabilities and expertise. They are also having to bolster their regulatory compliance capabilities, as new disclosure rules are introduced.

This transformation has come with a shift in the types of data that they need, including unstructured data, which calls for sophisticated technology to convert it into a format that can be easily digested into their systems. Unfortunately, their own technology stacks are often unsuited to these new data demands and the pool of talent able to help manage such a transition is vanishingly small.

The obvious solution is to outsource those new processes to a provider that has the necessary experience, expertise and datasets.

In this white paper, we will:

• Examine the current data management environment
• Outline the data challenges this poses
• Explain how those challenges can be met through a Data Management-as-a-Service (DMaaS) approach
• Show how S&P Global Market Intelligence’s DMaaS provides the necessary data tools and talents delivered through flexible, scalable cloud-based service models.
• Illustrate the service’s practical applications through the lens of two key use cases – ESG and private markets.

The post The Evolution of Outsourcing Data Operations for ESG and Private Assets appeared first on A-Team.

With AI and generative AI (GenAI) in particular still nascent in their application to financial markets, traders are justifiably skittish around their role in decision making or trade execution. But by adopting interoperability as a mantra and deploying AI to smooth information flows, trading teams are ushering in a new era of openness and personalisation, resulting in compelling outcomes.

This white paper

• Explains how interoperability is impacting trader workflows
• Offers examples and guidance on where AI can be deployed to create more value from trader desktops and systems
• Describes how simplified workflows can significantly enhance productivity, as gauged by metrics such as time savings and the reduction in errors.

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Higher costs, new geopolitical risks and a move towards more complex automated services has prompted their customers to seize technological opportunities that enable them to take greater control of their assets and operations.

They want more agile service providers that can help them make decisions more holistically. They are looking to marketplace models where they can shop for the best services or even assume some of the roles traditionally carried out by their services providers.

That has put the servicers in a dilemma. Digitisation is enabling the sector to add greater value to their client offerings but many are coming up against technological brick walls. Often, they are trying to do this on technology stacks that aren’t up to the job.

Moving into the cloud is the logical solution to this and many other challenges. In this paper, we will explain how cloud-based products like those offered by Snowflake and its partners, including AWS, will be crucial to helping client services providers thrive in a changed marketplace.

The paper will:

• Highlight how the market has changed for client services providers
• Examine the legacy infrastructure that is stifling innovation
• Detail the benefits of harnessing the opportunities of the cloud
• Illustrate what success would look like after cloud migration
• Show how Snowflake and AWS are already making that happen

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As they seek to address the resultant erosion of investment performance, squeezed fees and rising operating costs, they have turned to the opportunities offered by digital transformations, specifically through data migration to the cloud.

First, though, they must overcome the burden of limitation placed on them by the legacy technology setups. Shifting to a cloud-hosted data management system is the obvious pathway for them, but their lack of resources and expertise can make that migration challenging.

This white paper will outline the benefits of entrusting that transition to a third-party data platform like Arcesium’s Aquata. The paper will argue that a managed solution offers the flexibility, scalability and data integration capabilities that asset managers need to improve business performance and reduce operating costs.

The report will:

• Outline the new pressures that are prompting institutional asset managers to reconsider their data management strategies.
• Explain why their legacy systems are ill-suited to meet the data demands of modern financial institutions.
• Detail what “good” should look like in a managed data platform Illustrate these principles with reference to the real-life case studies.

The post Transforming Investment Management: The Urgency to Modernize Platforms appeared first on A-Team.

Incorporating this new generation of data into institutions’ infrastructures, however, has been a challenge. Many on-prem setups have struggled to integrate the broad range of data formats in which ESG enters their systems. They’re also finding it difficult to absorb the ever-growing volume of ESG data that they need to feed their workflows, including the increasingly sophisticated analytical models that give organisations a competitive advantage.

Getting the ESG data piece right, however, is non-negotiable: failing to do so will at the very least put them at risk of breaching the expanding body of regulations that apply to the creation, management and investment of sustainability and ESG-linked assets.

In this white paper, a panel of leading ESG specialists offer their views on navigating this broad and tricky new landscape. It will address:

• The challenging characteristics of ESG data
• The practicalities of incorporating ESG data into enterprise data management systems (EMS)
• Best practices for EMS integration
• The relative benefits of outsourcing and buying in data services
• The benefits of getting integration right and potential costs of failing to do so.

The post The Evolution of Enterprise Data for ESG appeared first on A-Team.

But broad acceptance of cloud beyond finance is highlighting some compelling benefits, primarily in terms of scale and flexibility, forcing financial institutions to take cloud more seriously.

To assess where the marketplace currently stands on the use of public cloud in capital markets, trading technology supplier Rapid Addition commissioned A-Team Group to conduct a survey of 20 practitioners from across the trading spectrum – from exchanges to investment banks, brokers and interdealer brokers.

This report contains the findings of the survey, outlining potential benefits, assessing true advantages, identifying potential obstacles and examining which functional areas are best – or worst – suited for deployment in public cloud environments. Finally, it looks the future and suggests what developments may be coming down the pike.

By downloading this report you will discover:

• What’s driving capital markets firms’ appetite for cloud hosting
• Key benefits derived from cloud deployment
• Main obstacles to migrating trading-related applications to the cloud
• Which trading functions are best suited for cloud today
• What the future holds for cloud in the trading environment.

The post Trading in the Public Cloud: Attitudes to Cloud Adoption in Capital Markets appeared first on A-Team.

Enabled by data-led technology, they are making more direct investments and managing their portfolios in-house. At the same time, they are streamlining operations and out-sourcing more routine activities.

This new normal is creating its own challenges for firms, however, principally in terms of managing their data and tech capabilities. Some, for instance, simply lack the expertise and infrastructure to adopt the workflows necessary for such a transformation.

Fortunately, solutions exist to enable their transition and in this white paper we will explain what institutional investors can do to ensure the best outcome in their evolution. It will:

• Investigate the reasons for the recent shift in asset owners’ business models;
• Examine the new data and tech environment that’s making this possible;
• Explain how an integrated managed data service can ease the path to achieving their automation goals.

The post Solving the Enterprise Data Challenge for Institutional Investors appeared first on A-Team.

They are seizing on data as an asset whose value can be unlocked through technology to increase revenue and reduce costs across the entire enterprise. With the application of sophisticated software, data is also providing insights that are helping banks to identify new business opportunities, build more accurate risk-mitigation models and offer customers richer experiences.

It’s crucial, then, that their transformation projects are managed properly from the start. An ill-conceived strategy can cause more problems than the project initially set out to solve. It will also make rectification harder down the line.

That’s why many banks are outsourcing their transitions and data management processes to cloud-based managed service providers.

This white paper will:

• Detail what value can be extracted from data;
• Explain the downside of a poorly planned digital transformation;
• Outline how to avoid such pitfalls;
• Show how and why cloud-based solutions work best;
• Provide clear use-case examples and case studies of where transition has helped companies.

The post How Banks Harness the Value of Cloud for Scale and Agility appeared first on A-Team.

But while trading portals offer great benefits in terms of broader market reach and enhanced client functionality, they bring risks too.

Firms are struggling to control internal access to these portals, mostly due to practices like password-sharing. Indeed, lax security around trading portals – and other key services like market data – can leave firms vulnerable to potential market abuse, vendor penalties, security breaches and regulatory censure.

Furthermore, lack of controls over access to bank-operated trading portals and services is emerging as a major challenge for financial institutions seeking to comply with the SEC’s wide-ranging Systems Compliance & Integrity regulation (Regulation SCI), and the growing number of rules globally that are looking to address operational risk.

This white paper will:

• Look at how firms are accessing single dealer portals and other key market services
• Identify shortfalls in practices that could potentially lead to market abuse, breaches of the SEC’s Regulation SCI or reputational damage
• Highlight the benefits of establishing best practices around robust controls on access to trading portals, market data and other services
• Offer guidance on measures your firm can take to compliance with Regulation SCI and other rules on operational resilience

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