CACEIS and PWC release a new report on asset management in the social era

CACEIS and PwC Luxembourg released their latest report titled “#SocialMediaStudies - Asset Management in the Social Era” during the Fund Forum International in Monaco today. For the report, CACEIS and PwC Luxembourg performed quantitative and qualitative analysis on more than 100 leading asset management groups worldwide in order to better understand their usage of social media.

This report seeks to identify the current state of asset management with regard to social media usage, consider how leading asset management companies in this area are interacting with end-investors, and enumerate key considerations when implementing a social media strategy. The report also looks into the future of the Social Era to see how asset management firms can respond proactively to inevitable changes that will affect their industry.

Commenting on the report’s subject area, François Marion, CACEIS Chief Executive Officer, stated, “The decision to focus our joint annual research paper on the asset management industry and social media was driven as much by the need to better understand the opportunities social media opens up for asset management firms, as by the need to be aware of the risks inherent in pursuing a social media strategy. The report raises key issues in areas such as compliance and regulation.”

The analysis and scoring revealed significant differences among the leading asset management firms with respect to social media usage—a large part of the industry is still in a “wait and see” position. Of those analysed, only 60% are active on social media. The reasons these asset management groups are slow to engage with social media include, among others, uncertainty due to the absence of stringent regulations. That said, we also discovered that the larger asset management companies are far more likely to use social media. Only 46% of promoters managing less than €150bn have an active account dedicated to asset management compared to 77% for those managing more than €500bn.

While some asset management firms on the leading edge of the field are embracing the use of social media, it is clear that usage by the industry as a whole is still in its infancy. It is equally clear that certain underlying dynamics of social media are arguably driving fundamental changes in how groups will interact with their stakeholders in the future. Even today, we see the importance many users of financial products attach to social media; tomorrow will spell the emergence of the internet-savvy generation as the primary source of new capital, making the social media strategy of asset management firms core to their ultimate success.

“Full utilisation of social media can unleash a higher degree of organisational effectiveness, a much broader reach in the marketplace, and a deeper understanding of manager-client relationships. Today, asset management groups view social media primarily as a communication tool. In the future, that will likely change as more players fully integrate social media into the DNA of their companies”, concludes Dariush Yazdani, Partner, Market Research Institute PwC.

The full report can be downloaded at www.caceis.com or www.pwc.lu

About CACEIS

CACEIS is the asset servicing banking group dedicated to institutional and corporate clients. Through offices across Europe, North America and Asia, CACEIS offers a broad range of services covering depositary and custody, fund administration, middle office outsourcing, derivatives clearing, forex, securities lending, fund distribution support and issuer services. With assets under custody of €2.5 trillion and assets under administration of €1.3 trillion, CACEIS is one of the world market leaders in asset servicing and the largest depositary bank and the premier fund administrator in Europe (figures to 31 December 2012).
www.caceis.com

About PwC
PwC Luxembourg (www.pwc.lu) is the largest professional services firm in Luxembourg with 2,300 people employed from 57 different countries. It provides audit, tax and advisory services including management consulting, transaction, financing and regulatory advice to a wide variety of clients from local and middle market entrepreneurs to large multinational companies operating from Luxembourg and the Greater Region. It helps its clients create the value they are looking for by giving comfort to the capital markets and providing advice through an industry focused approach.

The global PwC network is the largest provider of professional services in audit, tax and advisory. We’re a network of independent firms in 158 countries and employ more than 180,000 people. Tell us what matters to you and find out more by visiting us at www.pwc.com and www.pwc.lu.