In a recent interview with Global Investor Group, Ronan Doyle, Global Head of Product & Profitability, Transfer Agency at RBC Investor & Treasury Services (RBC I&TS), outlines the priorities for transfer agency (TA) and discusses the role of new technologies in the delivery of its services.
Ronan Doyle has been at the cutting edge of transfer agency services for over three years. As global head of product & profitability for transfer agency at RBC I&TS, Ronan is running product innovation as the market-leader in this specialist function.
Recently RBC I&TS has adapted its focus to concentrate on some of the more complex functions within the transfer agency service suite to reflect the progress that the company has made.
Doyle told Global Investor: “We have a long history of innovation in our transfer agency business. Back then it may have been called automation rather than digitisation but we have always been at the leading edge in terms of being able to support different fund products and automating trade processes from different parts of the world.”
He added: “More recently, we have invested significantly in our data and analytics platform, so we have effectively introduced an entirely new layer of state-of the-art technology to support real-time transmission of data, and the development of insights and dashboards that we can share with our clients and their investors.”
Global custodians have in recent years been looking to use more intelligently the data that can be derived from the assets they hold on behalf of clients which is changing the dynamics of the relationships between these firms and their clients.
Doyle said: “That has been a boost for us because it allows us to interact with clients where they want us to via APIs but it also allows us to plug-in other technology solutions in a much easier way and integrate those into our platforms via the API hubs we have in place.
The current focus is getting to the harder-to-reach parts of digitisation in the transfer agency environment
“The current focus is getting to the harder-to-reach parts of digitisation in the transfer agency environment, so we think a lot about investor onboarding and everything that comes with that.”
Of course, client onboarding brings with it a unique set of challenges: “From an AML/ KYC perspective in Europe, we know there are significant expectations from a regulatory point of view that need to be adhered to and that drives a complex operating environment, which is always the hardest to digitise.”
But the digitisation of client onboarding is also important for another reason, said Doyle.
“We are making strides in improving in that area and we are committed to that initiative because we hear it from our clients. A number of years ago, maybe our clients and probably TAs treated onboarding as a compliance activity. Now there is much more recognition that this is the first point where the investor touches the fund, so it represents the start of the relationship that the investor has with the fund manager so it’s really important to them, and, if it’s really important to them, it needs to be really important to us.”
Doyle said the investments in digitisation by his team reflect changing expectations on the part of clients: “Investors now expect the kind of interaction they have in their day-to-day lives – a digital, easy-to-use, positive experience – so we need to provide that. That is the focus right now but it has been progressive over time while the commitment to technology and digitisation has always been there.”
Investors now expect the kind of interaction they have in their day-to-day lives – a digital, easy-to-use, positive experience
As well as deploying technology into new areas, Doyle and his team are also tracking emerging technologies such as distributed ledger.
He said: “Our view is, if you look at the technology, what it does and what it can achieve, it lends itself very well to the transfer agency environment. You can apply it to different elements of financial services but it lends itself very well to transfer agency.
“That said, there are definitely some proof points still outstanding. Has it been deployed in scale? Clearly not as of yet. There are changes ahead no question but our view is it’s the type of technology that should be able to take transfer agency into the next generation,” Doyle said.
Doyle sees distributed ledger technology possibly playing a key role in improving the timeliness of the delivery of transfer agency services.
“If we look to the trade processing area within transfer agency, there’s a lot that blockchain and distributed ledger can do to support a much-more real-time experience for investors and clients. Ultimately, that’s what we are about – we are interested in solutions that are digital and future-oriented but that provide the opportunity to deliver a better service to our clients.”
Doyle said he is working hard on the deployment of distributed ledger technology but agrees there are still outstanding questions about the technique.
“We are very interested in that space – we have a number of engagements under way with fintechs and other parties where we are actively building solutions around the transfer agency use-case. And we see it as something that we expect to be doing more of over the coming years. We see it as a major potential transformative opportunity for the industry. Disruptive? Potentially but one of the aspects that needs to be worked out is the business model. We talk about the technology and what it can achieve but how the business model evolves is going to be equally interesting.”
RBC I&TS continues to lead the field in transfer agency services. Its commitment to technology and new approaches such as distributed ledger should ensure it maintains that position for years to come.