A Finscoms Director said to me the other day,
“Chairman, the hugely frustrating reality is that not many players, particularly funds, in the impacted industry will realize how well placed we are to help them be MiFID II compliant and indeed strengthen their offering.“
“So get out there and tell them what you can do to ease their pain and stress” says I.
We fundamentally believe that Finscoms can be an important part of the solution.
We fundamentally believe that Finscoms can be an important part of the solution. Indeed this could perhaps be a Eureka moment for a fund, who together with fund lawyers represent our key client base, must now list under ‘’key appointments’’ in ıt’s prospectus various parties such as auditor, legal, investment manager etc. With MiFID II would it not be advantageous for funds to include under said key appointments ‘’communications’’ and/or ‘’marketing’’ listing a firm, such as Finscoms, as the specialist in this area just as for audit, legal etc? Or to include as a NED someone with requisite industry marketing and communications skills to navigate the MiFID II world. We believe that the fund will benefit from demonstrating to an investor, current or prospective, that they have clearly understood the importance of marketing and communications in their strategy. That’s what Finscoms does, that’s what Finscoms can offer.
MiFID II/MiFIR/MAD/PRIIPS:
All these new regulations are creating a new level playing field for all actors in the investment products value chain, from the value creator to the client, including the processing and market. The objective is clear: a better protection of the investor. All firms will be ready (or should…..some major ones seem to be in a difficult situation with regard to achieving compliance as of Jan 3, 2018). Processes, risks, information, communication etc have been framed by the different regulation levels, their local implementation and interpretation by control authorities.
This new level playing field brought about by these regulations will create more comparability with a number of elements and the communication of technical characteristics will be ‘’standardised’’.
January 2018
But what will be the real challenge in early 2018? In only 3 months the question will be: how to do business in this new environment? How will a firm differentiate from it’s competitors? To be or not to be, that is the question!
From a business perspective, the benefit of this new regulation is that it will bring the spotlight on THE key element, that’s to say the strategy of each player, fund managers, private bankers etc etc. The newly adapted and adopted strategy will be communicated, internally and externally, with the express objective of differentiating the offering from the competition. The highly visible components of the strategy–product offer, brand and image, sales methodology, innovation–will be key to the success of each market participant.
Communication Requirements
Among other pressing requirements, fund managers, of all sizes, will be obliged to improve and enhance their communication with their target audience. This brings enormous challenges particularly for the smaller market participants. And fund management is a very, very competitive industry. Happily, and at very affordable cost, Finscoms can, based on significant experience and expertise in the fund management industry, including fund lawyers, with which we wish to cooperate to the benefit of clients, and not compete, help professionals to define their all important communication and marketing strategy……and even better to implement same! Problem solved! Well, perhaps not quite but a great leap in the right direction, I would venture….
Looking at the link between the communication imposed by regulation and the newly adapted and adopted strategy ( 3 months to go and lots to do–not to put anyone under pressure!), data can be used to illustrate compliance with the new regulation but, depending on the firm’s strategy, a fund manager can also demonstrate and highlight that they are ‘’best of breed’’. This can be a risky path to tread for those that may not be totally compliant, including with the spirit of the new regulation but for those that are it can be used to give confidence to their clients that they have nothing to fear in terms of their fund manager having everything in hand and everything in place in terms of their protection.
Who Pays?
It would be wrong not to emphasize the increasingly competitive marketplace that is the fund management industry. Fees are under pressure and costs are mounting, as we all are well aware and probably would prefer not to be reminded. It appears that some fund managers were looking to have their clients bear the additional costs whereas others have come to the conclusion that they should bear, and indeed need to bear, the costs if they are to remain competitive. Some, who want the client to bear the cost, will be able to pull it off but they will need, I think it’s safe to say, an excellent communication strategy in order to explain to, and convince, their clients of their value added compared to their industry peers.
Once again Finscoms can come to the fund managers aid by providing a broader view of what’s happening in the industry and seek to identify and implement efficient and effective communications and marketing approaches for strategies selected…And please do remember that a fund cannot simply add marketing to it’s offering; it has to be communications and marketing that has to be MiFID II compliant. As you will see from the Finscoms website, communications and marketing for funds were our specialisation long before MiFID came along…
In summary, as MiFID II draws ever nearer, Funds and other industry participants will inevitably be getting more and more concerned about becoming MiFID II compliant. Finscoms proven USP is that we can, based on significant experience of the fund management industry and a clear understanding of the regulatory environment, provide thoughtful input and valuable contribution to the formulation of an effective and efficient communications and marketing MiFID II solution/service at a very affordable cost particularly when compared to the cost of getting it wrong. I hope this missive will be helpful to those working their way towards MiFID II compliance.
We would be very happy to converse with anyone who would like to talk more about how Finscoms can help…
Thank you.
The View, Finscoms
