SimCorp StrategyLab hosts Copenhagen Summit 2011:
high-level industry representatives and academics convene to discuss key challenges
With the purpose of identifying and examining key investment management industry challenges, thought leaders representing the industry and renowned academic institutions gathered at the SimCorp StrategyLab Copenhagen Summit 2011 meetings in February and March.
By Lars Falkenberg, Assistant Director, SimCorp StrategyLab
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In 2010–11, the SimCorp StrategyLab research programme focuses on the three major sectors of the global investment management industry: investment funds; asset management; and pension and insurance funds. All these respective sectors face a unique set of strategic and tactical challenges. Focusing on these challenges, SimCorp StrategyLab in its capacity as an independent research institution gathered leading industry representatives and academics for three two-day meetings in the form of the SimCorp StrategyLab Copenhagen Summit 2011, with one meeting addressing each industry sector.
With the aim of identifying and discussing 12 key challenges facing the three individual industry sectors, related respectively to risk, cost and growth issues, three esteemed academics were designated to head up teams of high-profile academics from renowned research institutions, such as INSEAD and Stern School of Business, NYU, as well as senior executives from major international consulting and investment organisations, including TowerGroup and Nordea Savings & Asset Management.
Members of the Pension and insurance funds group discuss key industry challenges under the guidance of group head Professor Massimo Massa, INSEAD.
MISSION AND VISION
The Copenhagen Summit 2011 is one of the main activities of the SimCorp StrategyLab research programme 2010–11, and its deliverables are directly aimed at supporting the mission and vision of SimCorp StrategyLab.
To find appropriate solutions and to gather relevant best practices for the top strategic institutional levels of the investment management industry, SimCorp StrategyLab carries out its own research and analysis of trends and challenges in the financial sector. The research programme is carried out in close collaboration with internationally recognised academics and established industry experts. As a result, SimCorp StrategyLab is able to contribute competent suggestions for best practices, which are intended to minimise risk, to find ways to achieve sustainable cost savings and to enable growth.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
The aim of the SimCorp StrategyLab Copenhagen Summit 2011 was to generate and contribute substantial knowledge about key investment management industry challenges and to announce recommended solutions of value to the industry. Among the deliverables are a number of forthcoming articles and three whitepapers to be published in September 2011.
SECTOR GROUPS
Three teams of thought leaders from academic institutions and the industry were created, with designated sector leaders teaming up with a distinguished academic conducting research in the area as well as industry specialists. These specialists included one or more representatives from major SimCorp clients and one thought leader from SimCorp itself.
At the individual sector group meetings in Copenhagen, the three groups discussed the key issues of risk, cost and growth specifically related to each of the three sectors under examination: investment funds; asset management; and pension and insurance funds.
From a suggestion presented by the head of group, based on lists of proposed key challenges sent in advance by the group members, each sector group agreed on 12 key challenges facing the individual industry sector. A guiding principle for the discussions was that – in line with the aim of SimCorp StrategyLab’s research programme – qualified considerations on the solutions proposed should be put forward from an IT-architectural perspective.
MAIN CONCLUSIONS
Some of the main conclusions to emerge from the individual discussions were:
• industry issues associated with risk, cost and growth are interrelated and impact the three examined sectors of investment funds, asset management, and pension and insurance funds in varying degrees of magnitude;
• increased market volatility, financial instability and regulatory change are here to stay, impacting business risk, cost and growth respectively, and creating challenges as well as opportunities that are not necessarily always in equal measure;
• changing demographics (i.e. ageing population) will alter asset, investment and pension funding patterns, creating new cost challenges but also growth opportunities for the investment management industry as a whole;
• scale, internationalisation and the right choice of investment management platform are key determinants in controlling risk (market and regulatory), curbing costs (IT and operational) and spurring growth (business and product).
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Among SimCorp StrategyLab’s other activities for the 2010–11 period and following up its Excellence Awards 2010, SimCorp StrategyLab is seeking applicants for the SimCorp StrategyLab Excellence Awards 2011, which will award outstanding and innovative leaders in the ability to mitigate risk, reduce cost and enable growth. The three winners will be announced at a ceremony on 29 September 2011 at the SimCorp Dimension International User Community Meeting 2011 in Stockholm.
Follow the activities of the industry sector groups at www.simcorpstrategylab.com.
Lars Falkenberg (MA) is Senior Vice President, Head of Global Product & Marketing Management at SimCorp and Assistant Director of SimCorp StrategyLab. Before his role at SimCorp, Lars Falkenberg gained international senior management experience in asset management from one of Europe’s top 12 financial institutions. Executive education and training in international banking and finance at e.g. INSEAD and the Swiss Finance Institute supplements his theoretical background.
