MENA Asset Management Survey 2012 - National Bank of Abu Dhabi

Regulatory Trends
and greatly reduce the risk of error when they collect, analyze, consolidate and distribute
the data they need to meet valuation and asset allocation requirements.
Regarding investor and financial reporting demands, many firms across the region are
also looking to upgrade their platform to a fast and robust reporting system that will
enable them to share the necessary information with their clients and regulators within
prescribed deadlines – all this, along with enabled, full audit trails to certify that the
proper controls and processes are in place. They are also looking for flexible tools with
which they can customize reports for each client according to their requirements, and for
tools that make this information available to end investors online or via their mobile
device. In addition, there is growing interest in investment suitability assessment and
monitoring tools that can help managers define their clients’ risk appetite, propose an
adequate portfolio to respect this appetite while meeting clients’ investment objectives,
and ensure that the portfolio always remains within the spectrum of this mandate. These
tools are extremely valuable to meet the requirements of ever more demanding clients.
Finally, one of the key tools that investment managers have started to look at to help with
their customer due diligence is research management systems. We’ve already outlined
how these solutions can help firms in their investment process, but the good news is that
they also enable managers to store, organize, track and access the information they
need on their clients for KYC and AML, and can be set up to send out alerts when a
review of a client’s status is due or if further information is required.
Overall, regulators are pushing for better risk management and increased transparency,
which means more than just letting investors and regulators know what fund managers
are doing. It also means giving fund managers a clear picture of what is happening in the
market and in their portfolios. Clients are demanding the same thing, and this double
increase in demands is putting a real burden on investment managers. However, the
savviest ones know that there are technology solutions available that can afford them
greater transparency, give them greater control and empower them to make betterinformed
decisions. These can alleviate managers’ compliance burden in helping them
satisfy regulators and generate investor confidence—which, in the end, is the essential
foundation to guarantee future business development.
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