Asia Investment Management COO Survey 2015 Results

The Investment Management industry is at a crossroads. A major transition is underway with the rapid growth of wealth in Asia, the rise of passive players, the compression of operating margins and increased regulations. In this highly complex and competitive landscape, the role of the Investment Management COO will grow in importance as strategic decisions on providing scalable product support, building or outsourcing major operational components and the adoption of best practices, will have a significant impact on a company’s development.

It’s a governance issue. Regardless of size, asset managers need to assure that they have the right governance in place to minimize risk. This is especially true given the increased regulatory focus on outsourcing globally

Jeff Plein
COO of Fullerton Fund Management

The Investment Management industry is at a crossroads. A major transition is underway with the rapid growth of wealth in Asia, the rise of passive players, the compression of operating margins and increased regulations. In this highly complex and competitive landscape, the role of the Investment Management COO will grow in importance as strategic decisions on providing scalable product support, building or outsourcing major operational components and the adoption of best practices, will have a significant impact on a company’s development.

It is in this context that Stradegi and PwC have joined hands to conduct an annual Asia Investment Management COO survey, with the aim of understanding where the industry stands in terms of operational best practices, the priorities and challenges faced by COOs in Asia and the trends in operational outsourcing. Over time, we hope to give investment managers insights into the competitive landscape and contribute to the improvement of the industry through greater sharing of best practices and trends.

Where does the industry stand with regards to best practice adoption in investment operations? What are the priorities and challenges of the COOs in the coming years? What are the key drivers of outsourcing decisions?

The key challenges when managing operations are: 1. Finding and retaining the right people, 2. Implementing and correctly executing the processes that provide the business all the operational capabilities they require, and 3. Being able to scale enough to grow with the business as it expands and head in different directions.

Rob Scott
Head of International Operations, Asia-based Global Asset Management Company, AUM USD 160+ Billion