Dublin-headquartered management consulting and professional services firm Accenture has launched a new business analytics service for investment management institutions.
According to a September 12 statement from the firm, the new service will help asset managers to benchmark, analyse and improve the performance of their business processes and technology.
UK-based Investit, a specialist consultant to the investment management industry, has confirmed its chief executive, Catherine Doherty, and her team of industry specialists have joined Accenture’s asset management practice to form the new service.
“Our team has worked with many of the world’s largest investment firms, providing insights to help them make key business decisions,” Ms. Doherty, who will be head of the service, says in the statement. “As part of Accenture we can scale up to provide world-leading insights for asset managers across Europe, North America and Asia.”
According to Accenture, the service will provide year-round industry research and subject matter expertise to the asset management sector. It will address key business issues, including client and product management, intelligent automation, cloud, big data, cyber security and analytics for portfolio management, distribution and operations.
“The top 35 investment management firms in the UK alone spend about US$5 billion annually on technology and operations, but in the new wave of digital innovation many will need to rethink their strategies,” says Owen Jelf, senior managing director and head of Accenture’s global capital markets practice.
He adds: “Under heavy regulatory and market pressures, the health and performance of business processes and technology will be a growing factor in the competitive landscape. By bringing leading benchmarking experts and capabilities to Accenture’s capital markets practice, we can help our clients compete in a fast evolving sector.”
This is Accenture’s latest initiative to expand its asset management consulting and technology capabilities and entice global investment managers, institutional investors and asset servicers to use its emerging digital innovations and technology to improve competitiveness and profitability.
Earlier this year, Accenture completed the acquisition of InvestTech Systems Consulting, a North American technology consultancy, and in 2015, it acquired Beacon Consulting Group, a management-consulting firm whose clients include five of the top ten North American investment management firms.
Accenture is a global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. According to the company, it works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders, and has over 411,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries.
