While much of 2020 and the first half of 2021 were spent battling the Covid-19 pandemic, another sea change is on the horizon: the rise of Millennials and Generation Z in the global workforce and as investors.  Their impact on the asset management industry over the coming decade will range from their lower tolerance for manual, paper-based work, to the implications of creating environmental, social and governance (ESG) products for their investment portfolios. 

Whether Millennials and Generation Z are your end investors, predominate your workforce, or both, you ignore these digital natives at your peril. Embrace their optimism, social consciousness and need for technological automation – and let it transform your operations. 

Changing workforce demographics

The lessons of global lockdowns are still being absorbed by fund administrators – and the broader financial services ecosystem. But the pandemic proved that the industry can shake its staid reputation and move quickly when it needs to, sometimes in a matter of days.

Moving forward, the fund administration business, often behind the curve in terms of technology and digitalisation, will need to further transform in order to remain relevant.

Pandemic-related disruption, paired with a more technology savvy, data-driven workforce, could provide a tipping point for true automation in the back office and a true movement towards hands-free NAV production. 

Socially conscious investors

Throughout the 2010s, Millennials helped drive ten-fold growth in sustainable investing. Additionally, this generation of investors prefers to do everything online – including their own investment research.

For fund administrators, this implies the need for broader digitalisation, better data management, and provision of individualised investor experiences at very low margins.

These imperatives, while challenging, also provide a business case for eliminating technology debt and legacy systems incurred long before the global pandemic in order to create the fund administrator of the future.

Download the free whitepaper

Download this whitepaper for a closer look at trends in fund administration, and how to address them:

• Changing workforce demographics – including the rise of the Millennials and Generation Z – will transform the financial services industry.
• The fund administration industry will consolidate further, with a greater reliance on delivering commoditised yet personalised customer experiences.
• As investors, Millennials are reshaping the landscape with demand for sustainable investing and smaller, more frequent investments with lower fees.
• Expediting your automation and digitalisation roadmap with the help of a suitable technology partner can help you maintain competitive advantage in the wake of these changes.

This article was produced by Linedata as part of their valued Industry Partnership to Fund Operator.

 

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