Delivering solutions in the complex and constantly changing world of Financial Services can often seem like piecing together a giant jigsaw without the picture on the lid. By applying clear architectural thinking to business issues, Altus Consultants can show how the pieces fit together before you start - avoiding the cost and frustration of getting it wrong.
Here are a few examples of current FS issues where we are helping clients get from business challenge to effective solutions.
Retail Distribution Review
The FSA has shown it means business with PS10/6. The old commission model and the complex web of charging that supports it are about to get blown away. That means major changes for the business models of both adviser firms and product providers plus the systems and processes which support them. None of this will be simple but those companies that start preparing an integrated business and IT response now will be best placed to take advantage of the opportunities that the RDR will present.
FATCA
Financial institutions everywhere are grappling with the implications as the US attempts to extend its long arm of tax collection across the globe via new FATCA legislation. Onerous obligations to traverse the investment value chain and deduce the US tax status of income payments look sure to spawn a cottage industry in software and services.
But what if other countries follow suit and require their own flavour of tax rules to be enforced beyond their national boundaries? Maybe a broader, more architectural approach to the challenge could pay dividends...
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Solvency 2
First it was Banking with a new Basel accord, now it’s the turn of the Insurance industry with Solvency 2; sterner capital adequacy controls are an inevitable consequence of globalisation. As with the banks’ experience, data quality will be the key to success for big insurers. Our unique approach to mapping key data journeys and the most likely pollution points can provide a powerful tool to get ahead.
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Pension Reform
Pension Reform has become shorthand for a whole raft of regulatory changes introduced by The Pensions Act 2008. Whilst the new low-cost NEST scheme has grabbed most of the headlines in relation to the latest reforms, their impact will be felt much more widely. Auto-enrolment, mandatory minimum contributions and an inevitable pressure on charges will force a complete rethink of how workplace pensions are delivered and operated. That will mean big change for systems and processes…
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Complaint Handling
In 2009 as many people complained to the FOS about financial products as they did to Consumer Direct about the purchase and servicing of second hand cars, TV’s, mobiles and laptops combined. With record levels of complaints about financial products now being received it is more important than ever for financial service organisations to hear any concerns customers may have and put things right when needed. Those companies whose IT strategy uses technology to help treat both the cause and symptoms of complaints will be best placed to reduce their number of unhappy customers.
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Auto-Enrolment and Small Pension Pots
The proposed abolition of short service refunds for DC occupational pension schemes, alongside the growth in pension participation as a result of auto-enrolment, raises the prospect of a big increase in dormant, low value funds. Costly for providers to administer but insufficient to secure a decent retirement income, the Government is consulting on a means of allowing scheme members to consolidate these funds, which will require significant improvements to the way in which transfers are processed...
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Operational Efficiency
Squeezed between a stuttering recovery and a tidal wave of regulation, from RDR to Solvency2 to Pension Reform, the pressure of change on operations functions is relentless. With so many changes to the same processes and systems at the same time, the risk of some unforeseen interactions and unintended consequences has never been greater. Assessing the implications of change on paper rather than stumbling into them mid-project was always a good idea but is fast becoming an essential requirement to stay in business. So how do you do it?
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Corporate Wrap
There’s not been much mention of the mass affluent market for investments recently. A combination of the financial crisis, RDR proposals and DB pension scheme closures have all combined to make the investment advice sector look distinctly unappealing. Not surprising then that providers are looking for new ways to reinvigorate the market and to get their product to a wider audience nor that several are eyeing the workplace as a potential route to riches in the form of Corporate Wrap. But there’s much more to building a viable model in this market than a few big deals with EB Consultants.
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Wrap
As the UK Wealth Management industry rushed to catch up with technology developments in the US and Australia, new Wrap platforms seemed to be announced almost weekly. Now the hype has calmed down and providers are discovering just what it takes to make a new business model work – a clear picture of the whole value chain and what flows where.
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"The Altus Framework offered us a real head-start."
Neil Ratcliffe, Business Solutions Director, Capita Life & Pensions Services
Downloads
- LV= Surveying a system landscape: Seeing the wood for the trees (977 Kb)
- General Insurer: Establishing a common language (523 Kb)
- Wrap Platform Provider: EA Tooling (158 Kb)
- CMI: Architecture against a deadline (260 Kb)
- Friends Provident: Principles to Process (251 Kb)
- On-line Portal Provider: STP performance (164 Kb)
- Friends Provident: A German Twist (177 Kb)
- HBOS EFS: Building a business of scale (138 Kb)
- Capita Life & Pensions: Shaping an industry (278 Kb)
- Clerical Medical: Technology and Tradition (510 Kb)
- AXA: Leveraging the benefits of scale (169 Kb)
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