The importance of robust fund oversight has been in the spotlight for many years, but this focus has increased of late due to multiple factors – the pandemic, the rise of ESG funds, regulatory requirements around fair value and investor demands for more transparency.
Determining a fund’s net asset value is a vitally important process – but our industry survey found plenty of room for improvement.
Regulatory pressure for NAV oversight has been evident for some time. A 2013 Thematic Review by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) called for better monitoring of firms’ outsourced processes, which included NAV calculation.
Our survey results (figure 6) show that the majority (74%) of firms have not suffered any lasting impact on their operations. This is in keeping with the general trend in financial services as a result of the pandemic.
Data has become a primary driver of technology development for asset management. Over the past few years, there has been the realisation among market participants that data is no longer an outcome but a valuable commodity in its own right.
Our report echoes what is clear in the market – that there is an increase in ESG activity and there are issues with ESG data.
A Q&A with Samuel Kuborn, Managing Director, Product and Profitability for Trustee, Depositary and Fund Corporate Services at RBC Investor & Treasury Services.
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