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Results: Reports: 420 found, Exhibits: 1920 found, Presentation & More: 80 found

                                        

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Hybrid Retirement Income Solutions: The Best of Both Worlds or a Two-Headed Monster?
Analyst Author: Sean Cunniff | July 12, 2010

The United States is facing a retirement crisis, and the financial industry is evolving to respond to it. This TowerGroup Research Note discusses the approach that US financial institutions are taking to solve this crisis. The Note evaluates an array of retirement income products and discusses why TowerGroup believes that the demand for financial advice will grow and that advisory services not products is the solution to the retirement income challenge. Finally, the Note discusses some emerging technologies that will radically alter the way financial advice is offered in the United States.

The Far East Is Not That Far: A Look at Opportunities in the Asia Securities and Investments Industry
Analyst Author: Dushyant Shahrawat, CFA, Stephen Bruel | July 12, 2010

Is the opportunity in Asia as big as most people think? This is just one of the questions that arise during conversations about the opportunities and challenges of doing business in Asia. The revenue potential is too great to ignore, and securities firms are constantly evaluating their Asia strategy to accommodate market changes. This TowerGroup Research Note explores 12 Asian countries that TowerGroup believes offer the greatest potential for the global securities and investments industry. The Note discusses some key differences among the countries and analyzes the state of Asian capital markets.

A Message to the Industry: Assessing SWIFT's Entry into Electronic Trade Confirmation
ViewPoint Report: Analyst Author: Dayle Scher | July 5, 2010

This TowerGroup ViewPoint examines the impact of SWIFT's recent receipt of "no-action" relief from the Securities and Exchange Commission for its electronic trade confirmation (ETC) message, the MT515. This event means that the confirmation message now complies with SEC's rule 10b-10, which sets disclosure requirements for trade confirmations sent by broker-dealers to their customers. The designation establishes the SWIFT message as an option for delivering and storing compliant electronic trade notifications for non-DTCC eligible securities and for cross-border trades. This ViewPoint discusses the consequences of the upgrade in designation for industry participants.

The Allure of Emerging Markets: Where and What Securities & Investments Firms Should Focus On
Analyst Author: Dushyant Shahrawat, CFA | July 5, 2010

To say that the next 20 years belongs to emerging markets is no exaggeration. The financial services industry will grow at a much faster rate in emerging than in developed markets, and foreign securities firms and the technology sector can share in this growth. This ViewPoint examines the growth potential for emerging markets and outlines the five markets offering the greatest potential for growth for the global securities and investments industry in the next five years.

Trends, Opportunities, and Challenges in High-Frequency Trading: A US Perspective
Analyst Author: Dushyant Shahrawat, CFA | June 14, 2010

High-frequency trading (HFT) is a hot topic in the global securities and investments business because of its growing impact on market liquidity, trading volumes, market structure, and general investor confidence. HFT has been a very successful trading strategy in the United States and parts of Europe, garnering the securities firms involved hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. However, the publicity is unwelcome to firms engaged in HFT because it attracts new competitors and greater scrutiny from regulators focused on curtailing its scope and scale. This Tower Group Research Note describes HFT in the United States and contrasts it with HFT in other geographic regions.

Captive No More: A Look Ahead for Prime Services
Analyst Author: Dayle Scher | June 14, 2010

The capital markets meltdown of 2008 led to massive government intervention, forced mergers and acquisitions, and a scramble for capital infusion. The prime brokerage business bore its share of the pain as industry icons disappeared and investors reassessed their strategies. Longstanding relationships between the buy side — hedge funds in particular — and their service providers became the object of a recalibration exercise in the industry. This TowerGroup Research Note examines the effect of these changes to the traditional prime services model, the factors influencing hedge funds' choice of prime broker, and the challenges and opportunities for prime services going forward.

The TowerGroup Cost Basis Preparedness Study: What Institutions Are Offering
Analyst Author: Sean Cunniff | June 7, 2010

Until fall 2009, financial services institutions showed little sign of taking firm action to comply with the mandate to begin reporting the adjusted cost basis of securities transactions on Internal Revenue Service Form 1099 with tax-reporting year 2011. The industry has since dramatically improved its preparedness for cost basis reporting, TowerGroup finds in this Research Note, the third in a series of reports presenting the data from TowerGroup's 2009 Cost Basis Preparedness Survey, conducted in Q3 2009. The Note focuses on the cost basis reporting functionality that financial service institutions will deliver to their clients and the potential gaps in compliance.

Plastic for the Prosperous: The Role of Payment Cards in Wealth Management
Analyst Author: Brian Riley, Sean Cunniff | May 24, 2010

Will the card be declined if the customer attempts to purchase a $400,000 Ferrari on a card? Payment products designed for the very wealthy must be customized for this select customer segment. Deregulation has allowed banking and wealth management firms to come together, and the financial crisis has dictated that they do so to remain vibrant. Convergence presents opportunity to firms that effectively segment clients and offer targeted product stacks that meet the high-net-worth segment's unique needs. This Research Note discusses how financial services institutions can combine payment products with wealth management services to build very compelling offerings for wealthy clients.

Impact of Greek Crisis and Fragile European Monetary Union on EU Financial Institutions and IT Vendors
ViewPoint Report: Analyst Author: Bob McDowall | May 17, 2010

The sovereign debt crisis in Greece is spreading to other sovereign states in the Euro-zone. The crisis has demonstrated the fragility of the European Monetary Union (EMU), and it threatens the development of a pan-European financial services market. This TowerGroup ViewPoint, which is based on the successful hypotheses set out in March 2007 in TowerGroup Research Note V50:29ES, The European Monetary Union (EMU) Beyond 2010: Untested Assumptions, examines the current realities of the crisis and concludes by hypothesizing its impact on the environment for financial services institutions and technology vendors at the end of 2012.

Setting the Benchmark, Part II: Measuring the Vendors in Performance Measurement and Attribution
Analyst Author: Dayle Scher | May 17, 2010

The analysis of a fund's performance or a particular investment decision's profitability remains the primary measure of a portfolio manager's value. Therefore, the selection of a performance measurement and attribution vendor is critical. This report supplements the overview of leading vendors initiated in Research Note V62:13M, Setting the Benchmark, Part I: Measuring the Vendors in Performance Measurement and Attribution, which profiles vendors of performance measurement solutions sold mainly in conjunction with portfolio accounting systems. The present report focuses on vendors that offer performance functionality as part of an integrated portfolio management offering.

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TowerGroup Live (Recording) Multichannel Integration: Are We Mired in the Muck or Making Real Progress? (PDF 246 Kb)

Presented by: Nicole Sturgill

The definition of multichannel integration in banking has evolved over the last few years from purely technological to one that also encompasses customer experience and messaging. A strategic shift has occurred from integrating channels in order to facilitate bank-focused standardization to improving multichannel integration as a means of enhancing the customer experience. As the rules keep changing, multichannel integration has become harder to achieve. This session will discuss how banks have fared in both technology and message and whether their efforts have been resonating with their customers.

The session will address these key issues:

  • Are bank customers multichannel creatures or single-channel groupies?
  • How have institutions been able to adapt to the new requirements of multichannel integration?
  • Can multichannel integration actually bring cost savings and increased revenue, or are banks throwing good money after bad?


TowerGroup Live (Recording) New Payment Types, Models, and Technologies: Threat or Opportunity? (PDF 564 Kb)

Presented by: Brian Riley

Payment card issuers that ran the gauntlet of the recession and regulatory reform in 2009 now need to consider the threat and opportunity of new payment forms and emerging technologies. Instead of “stop the bleeding” and “placate the regulators,” their mantra should now focus on revolutionary change and the potential of new point-of-sale technologies. The branded payment card scheme faces external threats from well-funded challengers with the potential to shift debit and credit card transactions away from traditional card issuers.

Competition will also increase in the industry as financial institutions deploy advanced technologies such as mobile banking and payments to reduce operating cost and create market differentiation. Payment card issuers, processors, and network that enhance their infrastructure to win new customers and increase transactions will find growth opportunities as the payments industry undergoes fundamental change. Laggards will lose share and market relevance.

This Webcast addresses the following key issues:

  • Where will the challenges come from, and how can issuers defend market share?
  • What payment card products will survive the next decade?
  • Who will win and who will lose in the new environment?
  • How can the payments industry use the products and services of technology vendors to protect and grow their business?

TowerGroup Live (Recording) Reinventing the Mortgage Business: Zero-Defect Initiatives, Portfolio Risk, and Cost Takeout (PDF 390 Kb)

Presented by: Craig Focardi

The credit crisis continues to expose weaknesses in credit assessment, regulatory compliance, quality control, securitization, and portfolio risk management. The mortgage industry is trying to repair “garbage in, garbage out” processes across the supply chain that result in high product-defect rates. These defect rates (measured by delinquencies, loan buybacks, and rescinded guaranty claims) continue to threaten the industry’s viability.

This presentation will identify how lenders can fix flaws in customer/product matching at the point of sale, embed automated compliance and quality control into all lending processes, expand information transparency (especially in securitization and loan monitoring), and for the first time create fully automated loan collections processes. It will also show how lenders can accomplish these tasks within a tight cost environment that mandates new strategic cost reduction initiatives.

This Webcast addresses the following key issues:

  • What major product and process defect rates must lenders address?
  • How must technology automate new regulatory requirements that are redefining customer/product matching at the point of sale?
  • When will secondary markets revive, and what changes will resurrect them?
  • What strategic cost reduction alternatives can also ensure product and process quality in lending?


TowerGroup Live (Recording) Customer Experience Management: Driving Business Growth Through Enhanced Usability (PDF 1182 Kb)

Presented by: Peter Aykens and Jaime Roca

“Delight” doesn’t pay, and meeting expectations is just fine. Admittedly, that statement is hard to believe. Conventional wisdom in the financial services industry has argued exactly the opposite. Firms have been instructed to “wow” customers by exceeding expectations at every interaction.

Yet, research by the Corporate Executive Board shows that trying to deliver “transactional delight” not only is expensive but also delivers diminishing returns in terms of loyalty. In contrast, improving the “usability” of a financial institution’s offerings dramatically lowers the risk of customer attrition, greatly improves the likelihood of additional purchases, and promotes referrals.

This Webcast addresses the following key issues:

  • Why does “transactional delight” fail to deliver?
  • What is “usability,” and what can a firm expect in return for improving it?
  • How can firms identify friction points in their sales and service experience?
  • What does a process for building — and getting rewarded for — highly usable offerings look like?

TowerGroup Live (Recording) 2010 Top 10 Business Drivers, Strategic Responses, and IT Initiatives in European Payments (PDF 790 Kb)

Presented by: Gareth Lodge

This TowerGroup Live considers the top 10 business drivers, strategic responses, and technology initiatives that firms engaged in payments in Europe should be addressing in 2010. It complements the global focus of the other TowerGroup payment services lines, namely, Global Payments and Bank Cards as well as the payment elements within Wholesale Banking.

TowerGroup explains why the drivers feature on the list and analyzes the key issues and implications, emphasizing those that have changed most in the previous year. The presentation then highlights the series of strategic responses and technology initiatives that banks need to set in train to address these issues.


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