The Future of FinTech

Making predictions in technology is tricky but there are a couple of prevailing themes that are likely to influence how the industry will evolve over the next five to 10 years.

I am sometimes asked what the ‘next big thing’ in technology is going to be when talking to investment firms. Making predictions in technology is tricky but there are a couple of prevailing themes that are likely to influence how the industry will evolve over the next five to 10 years. These themes influence Eagle’s thinking as it develops its new solutions.

The first theme is driven by the way the finance industry itself is developing. We’ve seen how the regulatory environment has shifted towards a greater focus on transparency, data security and risk management. This pattern is bound to prevail and will guide the shape of regulation for the foreseeable future. At the same time the asset management industry continues to grow with firms becoming increasingly globalized and asset classes becoming ever more complex. Complexity is not the friend of transparency and data management is going to be -- and indeed already is -- a key battleground for the investment management industry as it accommodates these two competing demands.

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The second theme is how the users and consumers of technology are changing. Currently, the typical user of Eagle’s software is aged between 30 and 40. They have experienced a business world before the dominance of the internet and hyper-connectivity and have grown up alongside the computing industry. In the next five to 10 years this generation will be replaced by a younger generation whose experience and expectation of technology is very different. They will demand intuitive functionality and, while they won’t be so conscious of where their technology is located, they will expect to be able to access it anywhere via any platform. They will also expect to be able to share and discuss their experiences with other users across the globe. It’s with these users and their expectations in mind that vendors need to be developing their solutions.

There are a number of ways these two themes manifest themselves, with many already in motion.

Simplification and modernization: As new technology is introduced, new solutions are enabled. Firms must be excellent at optimizing the balance between reducing costs through rationalization and investing to increase business value. Hosted solutions are a perfect marriage of these two objectives. First, technology expenses are optimized because they enable ‘pay for what you consume’ models.

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As Chief Technology Officer of Eagle Investment Systems , Marc Firenze drives the software, technology, and architecture decisions across Eagle's investment management suite and ensures that development directly supports the firm's corporate vision. With more than 20 ... View Full Bio