Mesh ID participates in Digital Jersey’s first FundTech Panel Discussion Event

St. Helier, Jersey – March 30, 2022

A full house of fund industry professionals from across the Jersey fund ecosystem, including leading fund administrators, fund managers, advisory firms, lawyers, and representatives from the government and regulator, engaged in an incredibly dynamic discussion on where Jersey’s fund players are with “FundTech”. No Powerpoint slides to be seen! 🙂

The inaugural event brought together thought leaders within the fund admin ecosystem to present and discuss the current and future state of fund technology.

Panel Experts

The panelists consisted of experts in the local fund ecosystem: Simeon Moss (Deloitte, Director, Jersey Advisory Lead), George Pedra (Mesh ID, CEO), Nadja Borges (Saltgate, Chief Innovation Officer), Heather-Anne Hubbel (Phundex, CEO), and Sarah Sandiford (Deloitte, Regulatory Compliance Lead). The event was masterly moderated by Robert Kirby, board member at Digital Jersey.

During the event many great and insightful questions were raised:

  • How can fund service providers effectively stay ahead of the digital transformation curve?
  • In discussions with the JFSC and other regulators, what is their view of technology currently?
  • How are leaders in the private funds ecosystem driving change in the face of increased competition from implementing transformative technology to differentiation in the marketplace?
  • Why are most private funds using outdated processes?
  • Why are some decision-makers reluctant to pioneer automation?
  • How can new technologies benefit private funds and the wider funds ecosystem?
  • How can the funds ecosystem use technology to reduce its’ carbon impact?
  • This event is for Managing Directors or Directors and professionals from Fund Managers, Fund Administrators, Law firms, and other service providers involved in the funds business.

Fall, get up, repeat

– Event attendee, on the need for firms to accept change and lean towards learning from failure

A few themes emerged from this event:

  • Regulatory: There was a general consensus that there is a dual responsibility to maintain and build dialogue and relationships between the regulator and the regulated firms.
  • FundTech Adoption: Well over 80% of attendees agreed that the biggest driver of change within the industry originates externally: via our clients, the fund investors. Close behind was the need to remain competitive in “the war for talent”: newer employees are now asking and making employment decisions based on a prospective employer’s digital toolkit.
  • Operational: Firms need to adopt a more agile and open way when introducing new tech. A common view was to look at accepting and learning from failure: Fall -> Get up -> Repeat (and learn)
  • Behavioural Change: Industry leaders (not the government or regulator) need to demonstrate thought leadership. It can’t (shouldn’t) always be up to the government/regulator to affect change.

There is a war for talent. We see new employees asking us about our technology. These new cohort expects a better digital working experience and we see this as a unique hiring strategy.

– Event attendee, on how a firm’s adoption of user-friendly technologies has an impact on hiring and retention.

What will the industry look like in 5 years?

  • Repetitive (boring) compliance tasks will disappear, and the focus will be on empowering compliance professionals to focus on data-enriched and more value-added tasks.
  • The technologies that service providers need to power their growth are here, but there will be some firms that will not adopt them, and those will likely disappear from the market:
  • Technology will not necessarily replace jobs, but instead, roles will be integrated with technology.

That the technology is available or will come, is a foregone conclusion. Those companies that do not adopt, we might not see them anymore.

– Event attendee, on what will happen to industry players that do not adopt modern digital solutions

What’s next?

Attendees are keen to get their hands on the upcoming papers to be issued by RTA Associates in March, and by the government (on eID) in early May.

Interested in attending the next event? Send us an email at events@meshid.com and let us know that you’d like to be added to our waitlist for the next FundTech event, which is tentatively set for mid-June.