News
July 27, 2020
July 27, 2020Can we define high-touch fund services?
Can the confluence of three fast-moving market forces make for a perfect storm in a specific industry? Fund administers are about to find out.
July 24, 2020
Have fund services executives accepted their fate?
Fund managers and fund services firms usually don’t compare their companies to social media, but they could learn some lessons from the recent travails of TikTok and Facebook.
July 16, 2020
July 16, 2020Private Fund Data Operations Should Provide More Protection
Asset managers are reaching an inflection point requiring back and middle office functions to be shifted to a partner. Or the need for stronger quality pushes them to explore alternatives to their current administrator.
July 16, 2020
July 16, 2020Your LP is your customer, that’s important to understand
Far fewer recognise that customers increasingly want to know how and why the service they’re buying came to be in the first place. That goes for limited partnerships (LPs) and funds too.
July 15, 2020
Fundraising Now? Remember Morality Impacts Valuation
Startup founders are trying to figure out how to fundraise through a pandemic and economic crash. New talk of capital efficiency is gratifying, but there was another lesson from pre-COVID-19 valuation struggles. Morality matters.
June 25, 2020
Less Data Transparency Means Less Investor Trust
The business world can take two lessons away from the countries that have been most successful in fighting COVID-19. Data operations, data transparency and clear communications matter. Those are particularly important lessons for asset managers that need trust almost more than anything else right now.
June 4, 2020
Why you should worry about data transparency
As the economy reacts and changes due to COVID-19, firms will need to adapt to the new landscape in business and finance. There are several factors to consider when making this adjustment, one of them is transparency.
June 3, 2020
June 3, 2020Like a Formula 1 racer, fund managers need a tech pitstop, not a total rebuild
“Change management” gets pushed on to fintech customers much more than it should. Especially given that change management is the hard part. The customer needs to be a partner, but the vendor has to get in there with the heavy lifting.
April 30, 2020
Asset Servicing Times issue #239 features insights from Harmonate
Asset Servicing Times took a deep dive into data operations for funds’ middle and back offices. Kevin Walkup shared our views here at Harmonate, on what we are seeing right now in terms of best practices and solutions that are both fast and rock solid.
April 27, 2020
Covid-19, Jobs, Data and Machine Learning
Americans worry machine learning and artificial intelligence are a threat to their livelihoods. But the global pandemic demonstrates that these data technologies are essential to improving lives.
April 17, 2020
3 People Reveal a Formula for Hedge Fund Data Operations
Patrick O’Shaughnessy, Peng Zhao, and Michael Recce don’t work at hedge funds. But collectively these three illustrate a formula for the future of hedge funds, fund data operations, and big-time investing generally.
April 8, 2020
Fund Admin Shops Face Major Remote Work Test
Harmonate’s Kevin Walkup was interviewed on technology gaps being exposed by COVID-19. This article requires a FundFire subscription to view.
April 3, 2020
Kevin Walkup: COVID-19 pandemic shows importance of data operations
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of data operations and transparent communications in the financial services industry, according to Kevin Walkup, president and COO of Harmonate.
April 2, 2020
April 2, 2020Companies Must Adapt Quickly To A COVID-19 Economy
Businesses that have products that are fast to launch, easy to use and provide value quickly are already weathering the initial stages of the crisis.
April 1, 2020
Trust and Data Transparency Are Now the Same Thing
How transparent is an asset manager with data for institutional investors? Before COVID-19, an allocator asking for more access to data may have seemed mistrustful. Now trust is based on knowing no data is being hidden.
March 31, 2020
Asset managers’ middle- and back-offices are struggling to keep up with COVID-19
March 20, 2020
March 20, 2020Smart Data Holds The Key To Unlocking Opportunity Zone Impact
If we think about what data operations can do for unlocking capital, it’s useful to remember the EB-5 program that helped during the Great Recession. That was facilitated by the technology at Specialty Financial Administrator NES Financial. Intelligent data is also at work in Opportunity Zones, if we lay down the politics.
March 18, 2020
Why Isn’t Machine Learning Living up to the Hype?
As a team from Deloitte Australia writes, “if our social and economic systems persist in framing work in terms of tasks completed, and to value labor in terms of its ability to prosecute these tasks — then we can expect AI & ML solutions to continue to be used as they often are today: as cost-cutting enablers, substitutes for humans instead of partners with humans.”
March 16, 2020
For fund managers, data warehouses and dashboards are suddenly cool again
As global markets brace for the potential end to a decade of non-stop economic growth, private fund managers are making extraordinary moves to strengthen relationships with limited partners and enhance investment performance.
March 03, 2020
Andrew Yang Put the Automation of Jobs on the National Agenda
The rapidly evolving election season seems to have left Andrew Yang behind in the rear view mirror. But his warnings about automation and job loss are staying with us. What to do when inevitable automation efficiencies make humans redundant? History shows us there is a path forward.
Feb 11, 2020
Reluctance to overhaul data operations gives proactive COOs a chance to differentiate
Despite the disclaimers, nothing beats past performance when it comes to wooing investors. But as we approach a full decade of a bull market, it’s not enough for fund managers to show strong returns from recent years. They need to back up their decisions and the value of the sectors they invest in with data. Subscription is required.
Jan 10, 2020
What 2020 holds for enterprise tech — the numbers alone don’t tell the whole story
Between Cisco’s bellwether earnings, the course adjustments that have followed, and nervous chatter at end of 2019 conferences, enterprise technology spending looks likely to slow as we head in this new year and new decade. Is business technology the wrong part of Silicon Valley to stake a claim in? Not quite. Subscription is required.
Dec 23, 2019
2020 vision: Fund services trends to define the New Year
As another year passes, Global Custodian is celebrating a record year of online traffic as we set new highs in our website views. Thanks to consistently breaking the biggest stories within the world of securities services and taking a deep-dive into some of the most innovative new releases from custodians, fund administrators and the like, 2019 was our best year yet.
Dec 8, 2019
Data Warehouses Are Finally Kicking Into High Gear
Announcements of new high tech client portals from Neuberger Berman and Pershing suggest something is happening under the hood of funds. It may be that long-talked-about digital transformation is springing forward at last. Subscription is required.
Nov 27, 2019
Louis Bacon’s sunset ride may foretell ‘mechanized future’ of data-driven investing
The legendary Moore Capital is closing. Its founder, Louis Bacon, is reported to be riding off into the sunset. His name was often mentioned in the same breath as George Soros, Stan Druckenmiller and Paul Tudor Jones. Like them, over his three-decade career he helped build hedge funds’ reputation for placing big bets on big world events — profiting from predictions of war and economic meltdown.
Nov 19, 2019
Harmonate launches next generation data operations for funds
Harmonate, a data services platform for funds, has launched a full-scale deployment of its latest data operations platform for funds. Harmonate says the platform can provide 20 per cent cost savings in year one of implementation, and 80 per cent savings in ensuing years. Harmonate has also demonstrated a capability to reduce reporting delivery timelines by more than 80 per cent.
Nov 18, 2019
Fund admin spinout Harmonate launches middle office ML data platform
Harmonate announced the launch of its data operations platform for funds. Until this launch, its services were only available exclusively through a single fund administrator, NES Financial. The fintech now provides a standalone service available to all funds, fund administrators, systems integrators and funds of funds, including those it already serves through its pre-launch engagements.