A cloud-based and highly modular operations platform for asset managers, named HUB, will be developed by a new team constellation: investment managers Pimco and Man Group, information provider IHS Markit, global custodian State Street, strategy consultant McKinsey, and Microsoft. 

“HUB’s greenfield platform will be built by asset managers to transform the industry’s operating model by providing flexible and modular solutions across middle and back office functions, all while reducing cost and mitigating risks,” the founders spell out in a press release published Thursday. 

“The platform will accelerate the move to a digital operating model enabling asset managers to deliver innovative solutions to their clients both now and in the future.”

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Cloud frees managers

The growing possibilities to use and connect various data-crunching services over the internet, the modular “cloud computing”, is freeing asset managers and their business process setups from the inertia of locally managed legacy platforms. This can also open opportunities for picking best-of-breed suppliers for different steps of the processing – though businesses will need to balance their new flexibility against the simplicity of sticking with fewer solution providers. 

Correspondingly, on the supplier side, it has been observed that service providers such as custodians have favoured different balance points between proprietary fix-all solutions and open architectures. How this balance will be struck by the HUB collaboration may remain to be detailed, though the idea of modularity and a cloud base is obviously at its core. 

“HUB’s ‘data-first approach’ will break down silos and friction between systems and data. This greenfield solution will utilize the latest cloud-based data technology and security to transform middle and back office operating processes, reducing costs associated with supporting numerous legacy systems and improving efficiencies by connecting to third parties,” the founders promise.