Last year we certainly saw significant market and regulatory change in our industry and 2015 is shaping up to be just as active. April will see the chancellors ‘freedom and choice’ changes come into force, which is likely to cause chaos in the At-Retirement market, quickly followed by the PS14/9 CASS rule changes on 1st June.
Altus Consulting is working with a number of organisations to help them through these significant changes. Using our knowledge, experience and research we’ve published a white paper entitle ‘The High Cost of Freedom: At Retirement in 2020’ with some insights, predictions and survival strategies for everyone involved.
For those dealing with the impact of PS 14/9 and the new CASS rules Altus Business Systems is launching a new product, the Altus Reconciliation Gateway (ARG), to speed up the process of fixing rec breaks.
In 2015 the financial services industry is going to be a very busy year for all of us. I hope you are able to embrace the opportunities and navigate the potential pitfalls ahead.
David Jackson
Altus, Managing Director
New! White Paper by Jon Dean, Senior Consultant
‘The High Cost of Freedom: Retirement in 2020’ white paper takes an alternative look at the UK’s rapidly changing 'At Retirement' market, offering thought provoking predictions for 2020 and strong opinion on strategies which providers and other market players should adopt to meet the evolving needs of tomorrow’s retirees.
Find out our predictions for 2020 and download your copy of the white paper.
New Solution! Altus Reconciliation Gateway
Reconciliation break volumes are growing and from June 2015 new CASS rules require firms to perform reconciliations at least monthly – with daily stock reconciliations being required for many. The rule changes bring an increased focus on prompt investigation and resolution of discrepancies, effective audit and management controls and identification of interim funding requirements for short positions. Add in the practical challenges of processing data for a proliferation of share classes from multiple counter-parties and the risk of regulatory breach looms large.
The Altus Reconciliation Gateway (ARG) eliminates this risk by resolving breaks quickly and efficiently, ensuring minimal market exposure and providing a full audit trail (including clear management reporting). ARG integrates with existing processes and systems, including 'match-and-compare' tools currently available in the market.
ARG provides:
Predictable and controlled costs
Efficient communication between counter-parties
Audit trail to justify short break compensation claims and MI at all stages
Reduction in regulatory breaches
Download your copy of the briefing paper. Or contact us enquiries@altus.co.uk or call 01225 438000
Transfer and Re-registration Market Update - Q4 2014
It’s just two years since the first electronic transfers was completed and at the end of 2014 they use and adoption of continued to grow and improve in almost every way. The number of live participants and volumes of transfers have increased, while overall transfer times and the volume of rejections have come down.
There are now over 100 TeX members supporting electronic transfers and re-registrations electronically and the number supporting the latest version of the transfer standards (including equities, supporting intermediates/custodians and pension wrappers) has also dramatically increased during the fourth quarter of 2014.
Altus response to Treasury consultation on including peer-to-peer loans within the ISA framework.
The P2P industry has shown impressive growth over the last couple of years and provides a different model to matching investors and borrowers compared to the traditional banking model.
To continue its growth it is important that investors are able to access P2P investments in similar ways to “traditional†asset classes, and in particular that they are supported in the same tax “wrappers†that investors are used to. Read our response to the treasury's consultation on including peer-to-peer loans within the ISA framework.
Download the full response.
ATG User Group - February 2015
Altus will be hosting the next ATG user group on Tuesday 3rd February at the Swift Offices in London. The day will be split and you are welcome to attend either the morning or afternoon sessions or both.
Topics for the morning session will cover:
Market Update
ATG 2015 roadmap
Open discussion on operational issues
The afternoon session will be focused on pensions:
Pensions landscape update
Pensions in TeX update
New ATG Pensions Cash Transfers
Open discussion - Pot Follows Member, open transfers, Pathfinder project
Register to attend the ATG user group.
If you would like further information about the user group please contact us at enquiries@altus.co.uk or call 01225 438000
Over the past year we've seen the adoption of the automated portfolio transfers and asset re-registrations increase quite dramatically among the Wealth Management and Stockbroking communities.
The WMA is the trade association that represents 186 members firms looking after £650bn of the UK’s wealth. Altus looks forward to working with a number of the WMA committees to promote operational excellence and the use of open standards within the industry.
Shaping Mobile Financial Services, Research by Altus Consulting
A recent survey conducted by Altus Consulting revealed that over 50% of financial service providers fail to operate effectively within the mobile arena, having failed the most basic Google Mobile-Friendly Test .
The survey also revealed that 42% of the companies that failed already have a mobile application on the market and are not new to mobile interaction. Those surveyed included banks, wealth managers, platforms and insurers.
Download research papers:
Infographic
Shaping Mobile Financial Services
Altus ViaNova Guide for Fund Managers
The ViaNova market practice has been developed by the UK Funds Market Practice Group (UKFMPG) to define the straight-through-processing (STP) interfaces for the corporate pensions. It defines a standard set of rules for the interpretation and usage of ISO 20022 messages and the business processes associated with them.
This document provides some background to and information on ViaNova market practice from a fund providers or fund platform perspective. It also provides an overview of the capabilities covered by the latest ViaNova version.
Download your copy of the briefing paper.
Save the Children - Christmas Jumper Day
Altus staff fully embraced the Christmas Jumper theme on Friday the 12th December. All proceeds were donated to Save the Children UK.
UKFMPG - Election News!
In one of last year’s key elections Ben Cocks, Director of Altus Business Systems was duly elected Co-Chair of the UK Funds Market Practice Group (UKFMPG) with a sizable majority.
The UKFMPG is the UK’s Investment Funds working group, set-up by the SMPG (Securities Market Practice Group), a not for profit global securities industry group with an established presence in over 30 countries.
Its objective is to create harmonised, globally agreed market practices integrated with ISO 20022 – to enhance STP (Straight Through Processing) at industry level.
'Administrators may be failing to be ready for new FCA rules' Financial Planner
Third party administrators must ensure data services and reconciliation systems are prepared for CASS changes, says Altus Wealth Adviser
Latest Blog: S'not my fault! By Product Marketing Director - Will Watling
In this blog post Will Watling takes a good hard look at the fast approaching CASS requirements.
"S'not my fault! I’m sure the parents amongst the readers of this blog have all heard the above phrase from time to time, often accompanied by finger pointing at a sibling".Read more..
Pictured: The women in finance attending event; Karen Line, Fusion Experience and Ann Hughes and Amanda Gardner, Pershing.
TISA Annual Conference 2014
Last November Altus sponsored and exhibited at the TISA Annual Conference, a great networking event with an interesting line-up of speakers in particular Professor Peter Tufano, Professor of Finance at the Said Business School and Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Download the TISA speaker presentations.
Upcoming Events
Investment Network Meeting, 23rd January, The Nutfield Priory Hotel, Surrey
Kevin Okell, Consulting Director will be on the panel of the Investment Network Meeting
ATG User Group, 3rd February, SWIFT offices, London
Altus will again hold its half yearly user group meeting which welcomes current users and those interested in ATG as a solution for their business and who would like to meet those using the product. To register for the event please click below.
