MutualFundWire.com: A Data Manager Courts U.S. Fund Firms
MutualFundWire.com
   The insiders' edge for 40 Act industry executives!
an InvestmentWires' Publication
Tuesday, March 23, 2010

A Data Manager Courts U.S. Fund Firms


Mutual fund firms publish all sorts of data-filled literature, from prospectuses to fact sheets and niche marketing pieces, but who gathers and manages that data? Marketing departments are often stuck with the job, but MoneyMate is offering a different solution. Based in Dublin, Ireland, the 20-year-old data management firm aims to take over as much of that data gathering and validation process as possible. Watch for MoneyMate to boost its business here in the U.S.

"We act as a conduit for the information," explained Conor Smyth, senior vice president of global sales, in an interview with The MFWire, adding that MoneyMate gathers and confirms data (like NAVs, asset levels, past performance, etc.) within 1.5 hours.

Smyth confided that he aims to have ten U.S. asset manager clients (and five more in the UK) within three years, and he expects to expand his sales and relationship management team here, too. And Niamh Bushnell, senior vice president of North America, confirmed that MoneyMate is specifically targeting the 50-60 biggest asset managers.

Fundsters may recognize several of MoneyMate's clients, including JPMorgan Asset Management, Schroders and State Street. In the case of JPMorgan, MoneyMate started off in 2004 managing and confirming NAV data, and now they handle all its data management for asset management-related documents like fact sheets, drawing upon 75 different data sources.

"Asset managers don't want to have to mind that data and figure out where there are problems with it all day long," Bushnell told The MFWire. "We can guarantee at a 99.9 percent level that all of our data is accurate and we can prove it."

According to Bushnell and Smyth, asset managers usually dump responsibility for data management into the lap of marketing.

"Marketing has responsibility for the quality of the data, but they don't have the expertise," Bushnell explained. "Responsibility needs to go back to the source of the data ... Our service people go back to the data sources."

"Data quality is the new holy grail," Smyth said. "Data quality is the new opportunity for asset managers to differentiate themselves. "


Printed from: MFWire.com/story.asp?s=31734

Copyright 2010, InvestmentWires, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Back to Top