The latest announcement from the UK Investment Association is that a FinTech Accelerator will be launched with a specific focus on technology for the Asset Management industry.

Perhaps good news for a part of the financial services world which has historically lagged behind the wave of tech innovation. While still somewhat vague, press reports hint at areas of focus including machine learning, big data and the seemingly ubiquitous distributed ledger – the specifics could prove interesting.

In previous articles (part 1 and part 2) we have looked at the potential future landscape for the asset management & investment industry. The current enthusiasm for digitisation and technology advancement may well provide the ‘Asset Management Old-School’ with the tools they require to stay relevant in the investment world of tomorrow and if this accelerator can be utilised properly (and its products nurtured & adopted) there may well still be a place for these firms in the portfolios of the next generation of investors.

To achieve this however, there will need to be a speed and openness to change which would be somewhat uncharacteristic in this space. Also as mentioned previously, the opportunity to apply modern analytical tools to historically collected customer data could provide the much sought after edge while vendors & tech entrepreneurs who are able to get involved in this accelerator may benefit from an audience ready for change.

The banking, mobile payments and associated tech areas have seen some fantastic accelerator-related results over the last few years so this is a potentially exciting move for the Asset Management space.

As always, if you are involved in the Asset Management, FinTech or accelerator space and have any thoughts please don’t hesitate to get in touch.