Serving the front office

There are two groups of individuals who shape the open architecture

movement. There are those who make the headlines in continental Europe

for devising strategy, persuading a bank’s entrenched management board

to sell products manufactured by bitter rivals and for signing

ground-breaking agreements with these rivals. This is the glamorous

side of the industry, managed by high-profile individuals who take

plenty of credit for their work. They are not afraid to stand up and be

counted for often controversial viewpoints and they have often been

pioneers in a highly conservative banking mindset.

The other group, on whom we focus in this second special report on the

state of open architecture today, based on speeches and interviews

during PWM’s special forum in London, sponsored by BGI and Fidelity,

include the unsung heroes. First there are the due diligence teams

which interview and analyse the universe of fund managers on behalf of

banking clients. There are also the rating agencies which intensively

gather data on fund managers, based on exhaustive face-to-face

interviews.

Then there are the men and women of the back office who construct the

systems, clear and reconcile the trades and make sure that all the

parties work together. It’s all very well for a medium-sized bank to

announce that it will start selling a selection of “best of breed”

external products. It is a brave decision to take. But the real work

starts for those who must monitor and select the managers, and the

fearless souls of the back office who will make sure customers who walk

into the branch on any European street can actually buy the fund they

have been promised.

– Reporting by Yuri Bender and Roxane McMeeken