ING Investment Management Chief Operating Officer Scott Fox Lays Out the Current and Future Technology Hurdles for His Business
ING Investment Management 230 Park Avenue New York, NY 10169
SIZE OF FIRM:
$400 billion in assets under management globally.
PREVIOUS POSITIONS:
ING Aeltus, CEO; Aeltus Investment Management, COO; Equitable Capital Management, managing director.
EDUCATION:
B.S. in commerce from Rider College (now Rider University).
WHO WAS YOUR MENTOR?
I've had the opportunity to work with a number of very talented folks. Generally, I've also had very close relationships with each of my bosses, and I still maintain some of those relationships to this day on a fairly close basis. It would be hard for me to identify any one of them as my mentor, but I've been blessed to be associated with some very talented people.
WHAT WORK EXPERIENCE HAS HAD THE MOST LASTING IMPRESSION ON YOUR CAREER?
My major hallmark would be my Aeltus experience. It was a new venture and we had a very successful five years prior to the acquisition by ING. It very much postured me for the post- acquisition ING opportunity.
LAST GOOD BOOK READ:
"I Feel Great and You Will Too!" by Pat Croce.
Top 3 Current Projects
Risk Management-Oriented Activity
Objective:
Sarbanes-Oxley has been a significant project in this area as well as personal trading compliance. Personal trading is an example where we've actually automated the entire activity, and we'll be moving to a new supplier within the next month. Technology security in general has also been a major focus.
Enhancing the Trading System
Objective:
We're trying to focus on the trading system to have more customized bells and whistles. They range from migrating the trading system into other countries -- such as Canada, for example -- to installing other pre- and post-compliance modules. We want to have the system fully cognizant of compliance limitations.
Product Development And Implementation
Objective:
This has ranged from establishing a number of new funds, all of which require a technology interface, to new prime brokerage arrangements and new outsourcing arrangements. We've rolled out a lot of new products this year. Each one of those projects required some sort of interface from a technology standpoint.
2007 Initiatives
Data Management
While much previous work has been focused on infrastructure, we plan to centralize data management and have more-frequently refreshed data repositories.
Information Lifecycle Management
This covers a number of efforts, from improving our disaster recovery capabilities to having more-efficient controls and information on data ownership and user characteristics.
Derivatives Management
We'll be looking at systems from the front end to the back end in instruments in which we haven't had a large presence. We are currently in the evaluation stage.
Vitals
IT Budget:
25 percent of operating budget.
Key Technology Management:
- Tom Scheier, CTO,
- David Bercaw, Head of Business Operations,
Size of Technology Team:
130 on site, 20 offshore.
Percent of IT Projects Outsourced:
30 to 40 percent of discretionary projects.
Key Technology Partners:
HP, Microsoft, Charles River Development and Saratoga Technologies.
Success Metrics:
In addition to conventional methods of measuring success by user acceptance and by determining if a product meets documented expectations, we conduct regular user feedback surveys. The results of these surveys affect employee evaluation and compensation.
On the business side, risk management will continue to be a huge endeavor in many different systems and processes. Also, the proliferation of derivatives clearly is a focus and will be a meaningful part of our technology initiatives.
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