Post-trade digitisation — a guide to strategy and implementation

A global research report on strategy & implementation

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

While digitisation is not a new concept for the financial services industry, it is clear that digitisation of individual processes or steps in the post-trade processing chain is no longer enough. The interconnectedness of post-trade processing requires something more – firms are embarking on strategic digital transformation – a journey that is collaborative and continuous and that will deliver greater efficiency, lower costs and improved client service. Our research reveals that for financial institutions:

Strategic digital transformation is imperative

● We found that 69% of firms believe that digital transformation is vital; two-thirds of firms say the benefits of transformation outweigh the risk, cost and effort involved

Strategic digitisation is seen as a way to improve problem resolution, efficiency and client service

The benefits of digitisation are compelling for survey respondents:

● 53% say more efficient problem solving is the most important driver of digitisation

● 46% cite improving client/counterparty service is a primary driver

To achieve the benefits of strategic digitisation, challenges must be overcome

●87% rank time-to-market as a concern when considering
digitising operational processes
● 81% are concerned about cost overruns of digitalisation
projects
● 80% cited lack of internal knowledge and skills
● None of the barriers are regarded as a significant deterrent
to digitisation; in fact, many firms are willing to lead the
way in strategic digitisation

Strategic digital transformation is continuous and collaborative

● Firms recognise the rewards of strategic digitisation and
are taking steps to mitigate any risks. Transformation is an
ongoing journey, rather than a ‘big bang’ project
● 58% of firms believe it is better to enhance and upgrade in order to innovate rather than buying totally new solutions
● Ease of integration between third-party digital solutions and existing systems via APIs is important to 79% of firms; 65% prefer a single solution that can integrate with other operational solutions via APIs rather than a range of
standalone solutions
● 82% of respondents cite scalability as an important factor for success when rolling out third-party vendor solutions