KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 (Bernama) -- A new report conducted by Xceptor in partnership with Crisil Coalition Greenwich has unveiled how firms across the capital markets landscape are rethinking their operational strategies in response to growing complexity, rising trade volumes, and evolving regulatory demands.
Xceptor Chief Executive Officer, Michiel Verhoeven emphasised the growing pressure on firms to modernise, especially with new regulatory shifts like T+1 and the European Union’s Faster Initiative.
“The Crisil Coalition Greenwich report confirms what we continue to witness firsthand in the industry: getting data right through automation and artificial intelligence (AI) is a top priority for all industry participants.
“Firms that embrace market collaboration will be best placed to accelerate ready-to-trade, ready-to-settle and ready-to-report processes through automation and AI,” he said in a statement.
The report stated that nearly 90 per cent of respondents believe digital transformation will enhance operational efficiency, yet fewer than one-third (28 per cent) say it is broadly supported within their organisations, and one in 10 indicated no support from their organisation.
In addition, the most often cited obstacles are legacy systems (57 per cent), cost concerns (56 per cent), and manual data entry (39 per cent), while improving data capture and transformation is a top focus, with more than half of the firms planning to invest in workflow automation within the next year and a similar percentage already having done so in the past 12 months.
Titled “Operational efficiency is driving digital transformation in capital markets”, the report also unveiled that up to five different platforms are used to cover asset classes, with 95 per cent of respondents saying that no single platform can cover them all, leading to disjointed workflows and data silos.
Manual processes continue to dominate middle- and back-office operations, particularly in regulatory reporting, client onboarding, and trade reconciliation. These inefficiencies contribute significantly to operational risk and cost, with many firms setting aside up to five per cent of annual capital to manage exception handling.
AI adoption in the industry remains cautious. While 60 per cent of respondents see AI as important to their transformation strategy, nearly one-quarter believe it is not important. Another 43 per cent plan to adopt AI within two years, while 23 per cent have no plans at all.
Surveyed over 70 C-suite and senior leaders from capital markets firms across North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia Pacific, the study offers a clear view into how firms are responding to rapidly changing data requirements and where the biggest opportunities for transformation lie.
-- BERNAMA
