Market report – Investment Management and Project Delivery
This report is aimed at providing a high-level snapshot of the recent market activity across project delivery in the Investment Management space across Australia.
Current project trends
There are several implementations occurring across investment data platforms and IBOR. Many investment businesses are actively exploring how to optimally leverage and utilize investments data for reporting and decision-making purposes.
There are also a couple of implementations occurring across performance and attribution systems.
A couple of large Investment Managers are currently undertaking target operating model reviews which may lead to significant transformation to those organisations.
Although there has been a decline in merger activity, several integration and consolidation projects are still ongoing as a result of merger announcements from the previous year. These initiatives aim to streamline operations/systems and achieve synergies post-merger.
Employment market trends
The overall job market across Financial Services has softened significantly, however investments projects appear to have been less impacted. The level of demand is not close to 2021 and 2022 however there is still a reasonable level of activity, particularly since budgets for FY 23 were determined over May/June.
Rates and salaries are stable and are hovering at the same levels as last quarter. We are not seeing as many premium rates on offer for day rate contractors.
Like the previous quarter, there continues to be a shift towards hiring workers from the local area and promoting more regular office attendance. However, certain businesses are still offering the opportunity for full-time WFH for regional or interstate workers.
M&A Activity (recent announcements or in discussion)
Australian Retirement Trust & Oracle Superannuation Fund
TWU SUPER and Mine Super
Mercer and BT Private Private Portfolio Management
Watch this space and questions moving forward
For most, there seems to be a general acceptance around returning to the office 2/3 days a week. However, with the reported pushback from employees at companies such as NAB and CBA, companies will need to approach any new work policies carefully.
Potentially it is too early to reference this, but we have observed that candidates are now able to customize their resumes to specific job descriptions using various AI technologies, such as Chat GPT. However, this could pose a potential problem as these AI-customized resumes may not always accurately reflect a candidate’s true experience. As a result, both clients and recruiters need to be diligent in evaluating the information presented in such resumes.
If you would like to discuss any of the above or would like to have a general discussion about the market, please call Steve Ash on 0439 441 758.
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