Great is a disorder under the heavens, also in the finance and investment ecosystem. The variables contributing to the ever-so-high fragmentation of this business sector are many, but outsourcing is definitely among the main ones. And after all, why would you not hop on the train and save some running costs? As a Fund Management Company (FMC) or a depositary bank, if you can outsource parts of your tasks to an external partner – specializing in those activities – there’s all to gain.

Sure, but the ultimate statutory responsibility for those activities still lies onto your shoulders. As well as the oversight duties, and even more so in the case of auditing projects. In a highly interconnected financial ecosystem, FMCs and depositary banks receive data from a number of sources. It is necessary not only to keep track of all of it, but also to dispose of this information potentially at all times – be it for inquiries, or for technical and organizational changes.

Data needs to be orderly and securely stored somewhere, ready to be mobilized when the moment comes. With Depowise and its built-in Data Warehouse (also called Data Hub), oversight becomes easy, opening up opportunities for increased efficiency while safeguarding business continuity.

Why do you need your own data warehouse? Here are the reasons:

Outsourcing is not a problem per se, but efficiency losses may hide between the lines. Some aspects of this trend could be complemented by technological solutions that make the interlinks in this value chain run much smoother. Today, FMCs and depositary banks collect and receive data submissions from a variety of customers and business partners. Storing all this information in Depowise’s Data Warehouse allows them to simplify the unappealing task of validation.

Here is how it works. You receive a data package from a service provider. Once this is loaded on Depowise, an ETL layer (Extract, Transform, and Load) carries out the initial and technical validation of the data before incorporating it into a Staging tier. Subsequently, the business validation takes place, and the information submitted enters the central Data Hub for storage and use.

This core feature of Depowise allows FMCs and depositary banks to always at their own disposal all the data submitted by business partners and customers. The component automatically runs the necessary checks and loads the data in the central warehouse, which can also be configured according the diverse needs of fund management companies or depositaries.

Two elements make Depowise’s Data Hub so captivating – automatic data standardization and ownership.

Standardizing data to speak a single, unique language

To make the case for the necessity to standardize data, we should consider both a first- and second-level perspective. Once the data is uploaded on Depowise, the standardization process makes sure that you and your customers or business partners speak the same language – or, at least, that you understand what they are saying. Out of metaphor, Depowise supports most machine-readable data formats (such as Excel sheets, .csv, .txt, .xml and many more) and automatically standardizes these loads before making them available.

In a context where the sheer number of such actors is on the rise, and the interconnections tighten, data standardization and validation gains so much relevance. The clear, major plus of this mechanism is that it does not matter in which data format your customers or business partners submit the data to you. You will still always be able to incorporate it almost seamlessly into your own Data Warehouse. Without worrying about operating in a multi-provider environment, the data at your disposal will always be in the language that fits you.

On the other side of the equation, standardization enables Depowise to run different, additional functions on top of the proprietary Data Hub. This is the second-level perspective, where the standardized data is put to use and mobilized for further operations. In Depowise, the Data Warehouse enables key features such as NAV reconciliation, limit checks, and the possibility to present all information in ready-to-use, user-friendly dashboards.

Data ownership safeguards responsibilities and eases oversight

The end goal of the software, as a whole, is to make operations run smoothly. If standardization fulfills this purpose on more internal tasks, data ownership shelters FMCs and depositaries from discontinuing business also due to external risks.

If you need to get older information on activities and transactions, the next step is to ask it from your business partner. But what if that takes time? Or if that company goes belly-up in the meantime? Or if you want to change service provider, and accessing that data turns out more complicated than expected?

Against all these risks, the Data Warehouse allows you to always own and dispose of your data, at all times. Business continuity is ensured even in the case of organizational changes such as those described, allowing you to always keep track of the record of your activities.

This last element gains even more important while undergoing an auditing process. Economic penalties might be in place in case of a partner’s fault, but the responsibility chain still stops to you. With its own Data Hub, there is no risk of missing information when needed, easing oversight but also protecting FMCs and depositaries from relevant unforeseen risks.

Interested in hearing more on how Depowise could benefit your company?

Let’s talk Depowise in greater detail. Contact our Founder and Solution Architect, Sven Peekmann, at sven.peekmann@depowise.com. We will arrange a demo and show you how the solution could benefit your bank or Fund Management Company.

Co-authored by Federico Plantera