A recent survey conducted at Bloomberg's Sydney Asset and Investment Manager (AIM) Buy-side Forum on 10-11 June saw 54 per cent of Australian buy-side professionals cite 'greater need for operational efficiency' as the greatest challenge to their business.
One-quarter of respondents selected 'increased competition in returns' (ie. alpha) as their greatest challenge, while only 21 per cent of respondents selected 'growing regulatory demands'.
Speaking to InvestorDaily, Bloomberg AIM head of Asia Pacific Steven Ioannou said three or four years ago the regulatory and operational efficiency responses would have likely been "entirely reversed".
"Australia is in an advanced stage of implementing significant regulatory regimes, such as derivatives reform to be fully implemented in October, allowing greater technology focus to be applied to achieving operational efficiency and growth," Mr Ioannou said.
Regulatory reform is accepted as the "norm" by Australian investors, but they remain under increased pressure to achieve greater efficiencies, he said.
"One way they can do this is by utilising financial technology that provides a whole portfolio view across their investment and operational functions, with the capability to process real-time data for risk management and reporting," Mr Ioannou said.
Bloomberg also conducted an AIM buy-side forum in Singapore on 16-17 June, which saw just 27 per cent of participants list operational efficiency as their priority.
Bloomberg's buy-side forums were attended by more than 250 buy-side professionals from over 180 firms in Sydney and Singapore in June.
