CheckFree, now part of Fiserv, Inc. and the platform provider for Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) and Unified Managed Accounts (UMAs), introduces white paper “The CheckFree Investment Services Perspective: Market Trends for 2009 and Beyond.”
The paper is based on the culmination of interviews with CheckFree’s associates, market participants and third party analysts. The company investigates the current challenges that clients, sponsors, managers and the general marketplace are experiencing.
Analysts forecast the impact of 2008 financial events on the market trends in 2009. CheckFree predicts the following trends in the financial development for 2009:
– Less emphasis on institutional-like management of managed accounts and more focus on the provision
of institutional type oversight;-A dramatic reduction of technology spending and an emphasis on use of existing infrastructure;- Accelerated need for products focused on asset preservation and income generation;-International investment as a key for proper asset allocation;-An emerging focus on data standards and operational efficiencies within managed accounts; and- Returned focus on risk rather than corporate actions processing.
“As we enter 2009, we are seeing a dramatic shift in the way financial services companies look at investment services technology,” says Cheryl Nash, senior vice president of strategic marketing and business development, CheckFree Investment Services, now part of Fiserv. “We believe the most important thing we can do during this difficult period is to work with our clients every step of the way in order to provide them with optimal tools that allow them to effectively navigate through this rapidly changing landscape.”
“The white paper is one way in which we can help our clients better understand how to respond to current market uncertainty and the eventual growth that will return to the markets.”
L.D.