These are challenging times for asset managers. Disruption is a pervasive force. Driven by technology innovation, empowered customers, volatile economics and advancing regulation, industry change is moving faster than ever. Keeping pace with disruption We’re seeing our asset manager clients respond to these developments by innovating and reinvigorating their products and processes. It’s easy to…

As I scanned MarketWatch recently, I was struck by what “Scared to be penniless” had written to The Moneyist, the site’s personal finance editor: “Here I am at 65 and ready to finally retire and I’m scared that I will become penniless.” As I read on to find a paid-off mortgage, a military pension, health…

Accenture’s recent research on the post-digital world for insurance companies outlines several areas where top players in the insurance industry are currently investing to ensure their products “fit in every moment.”[1] Technology is playing a key role in determining and delivering on customer needs. As companies target new opportunities, they evaluate disruptive technologies that could…

In wealth management, we focus heavily on client milestones—the just-married couple, the single female buying her first home, clients ready to retire, etc. But there’s a demographic I’m seeing that’s often overlooked in the current models: Fifty-somethings. Far from “just starting out” yet not “ready to retire,” this group is looking out for a more…

The good times are back in capital markets, although you wouldn’t know it from the headlines in Europe. The industry is generating around a trillion dollars in net annual revenues and overall profitability is high. But taking a look behind the numbers reveals a cause for concern, particularly for some of the sell-side players. The…

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order approving the Precidian ETF model—a “novel type of actively managed ETFs” whereby daily disclosure of portfolio composition is not required.[1] Active managers who licensed or intend to license the model should have had a keen interest in the long-awaited regulatory disposition. The approval places some new…