Buy-Side Firms Struggle to Minimize Fee Leakage and Improve Accuracy, Says Survey

Data management costs and fee leakage are two of the buy side's most pressing operational concerns, according to a survey released today by Bonaire Software Solutions, a provider of asset management technology.

The poll, conducted at Bonaire's annual North American user conference, reveals that the buy-side industry is largely focused on efficiency, with 84 percent of respondents citing increasing efficiency and accuracy as their primary objective.

Fee leakage continues to be a pressing challenge for buy-side firms as many still rely on Excel spreadsheets and manual processes for fee billing. The survey results also reveal that the most difficult challenge for organizations to overcome is ‘minimizing fee leakage and improving accuracy,' with 50 percent of respondents citing this as a top obstacle.

Additional survey results include:

-- Nearly 50 percent cite data management as the biggest distributor invoicing challenge.

-- ‘Consolidating data from various systems' (37 percent) and ‘inefficient processes' (35.3 percent) are top company challenges in reporting revenue.

-- 1/3 state that data consistency across business units is biggest challenge in expense management.

"The survey results show us that there is still a tremendous need in the industry for automation and efficiency," comments Christopher John, CEO of Bonaire in a press release. "What's clear is that the investment management industry needs to continue adopting the processes and technology required to truly address the fee leakage challenge and ensure revenue and expense management is accurate, particularly in light of current and proposed regulations." Greg MacSweeney is editorial director of InformationWeek Financial Services, whose brands include Wall Street & Technology, Bank Systems & Technology, Advanced Trading, and Insurance & Technology. View Full Bio