Agile methodologies as a significant trend Lisa Blenkinsop, Chartered FCSI, regulatory risk and transformation manager at Deloitte, describes the blending of agile methodologies to deliver proof of concept and speedier project implementation as another significant trend. “However, a ‘fail fast’ approach is far
too great a risk where financial regulators require firms to identify important business services and test for failure points to avoid consumer harm,” she says. Alan Burr, Chartered FCSI(Hon),
director at Burr & Company, and deputy chair of the CISI Operations Forum, agrees that there is “still room for improvement in automated services”, despite technology rendering concepts such as ‘checking rooms’ – a designated area where transaction records made by clerks at the stock exchange would be compared against the manual input of those records on computer systems – obsolete. Neil Atkinson, Chartered FCSI,
managing director for banks and broker dealer relationships at HSBC, points to a “huge growth in trading volumes over the past 30 years”, made possible through the evolution of operations – “whether through lower-cost service centre locations or by introducing globally aligned operating models with a more standardised approach to processing”. He says that HSBC’s Markets and
Securities Services business has adopted agile ways of working, shifting “from knowledge-based manual processing to knowledge-based exception management for semi-automated processes”. Knowledge will continue to be “key to the success of operations teams”, he says, “but in the future these operations experts will use their expertise to design and manage automated processes and add value through continuing to improve the user and client experience, leveraging new technologies which move us away from traditional monolithic platforms to service based architecture.”
Technological developments Professor Douglas Arner, RGC Senior Fellow in digital finance at the University of Hong Kong faculty of law, has researched the origins of financial technology extensively. He notes that the term ‘fintech’ can be traced to the early 1990s and the Financial
CISI.ORG/REVIEW
CISI BONDS AND FIXED INCOME FORUM Chaired by: Neil Brown, Chartered FCSI, director at Earth Capital
Forum events are organised for groupings from across the world, with a recent example being a green bond event for members in Kenya.
“To some extent we are a boutique forum within the CISI in as much as the majority of the Institute’s activities relate to equities, but fixed income is
an important aspect of portfolios that is perhaps less well understood by many wealth managers and financial planners,” he says.
“We see a lot of young members who want to understand what fixed income is as well as experienced and knowledgeable individuals who come along to the more complex or cutting-edge events we organise and generate some interesting conversations.”
It is important that people understand the different segments of the fixed income market and their risk characteristics, says Neil. “This is important even for those who invest through funds because they need to appreciate what the fund’s objectives are and the differences between the various types of bonds.”
Neil says that over the past decade there has been less focus on individual ‘star managers’ running funds or portfolios on their own in favour of greater emphasis on teamwork – one of the key skills highlighted in the FSSC report.
“This has happened as part of a wider trend of managers seeking greater consistency,” he explains. “A team-based approach that gathers research and ideas from multiple sources is seen as the best way of achieving repeatable performance.”
Services Technology Consortium, a project initiated by Citigroup to facilitate technological cooperation. Douglas divides the evolution of
financial technology into eras, with the period 1967–2008 characterised by the switch from analogue to digital, led by traditional financial institutions and encompassing innovations such as BACS (Bankers’ Automated Clearing System, introduced in 1968) and SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, founded in 1973) payments, and program trading – the use of computer-generated algorithms to trade stocks in large volumes and high frequency – in 1987. The past 14 years have seen the emergence of new players (start-ups) alongside existing core banking vendors with significant developments including automated investment services (2008) and cryptocurrency (2009). The 2008 global financial crisis had a catalysing effect on fintech, says Douglas,
// KNOWLEDGE WILL CONTINUE TO BE “KEY TO THE SUCCESS OF OPERATIONS TEAMS” //
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