Due Diligence Takeaways from The Network Forum 2021
The Network Forum’s virtual annual meeting featured all the key drivers of industry change under the spotlight, this year themed A New Dawn on The Horizon. The organization’s four pillars of: strategy, innovation, technology and regulation were all covered. In addition, their global community was able once again to get involved in breakout sessions hosted by event partners. More than 1,000 professionals in the custody and post-trade industry attended.
The CENTRL team had the honor of sponsoring and attending the event, with a feature on the mainstage and three expo sessions. While there we had the opportunity to interact with experts and really get a pulse on the industry. We’ve compiled the top three due diligence takeaways from The Network Forum below.
1. Digitalization and Tech in Due Diligence
This year The Network Forum’s VIP guest speech came from Dex Hunter-Torricke of the Oversight Board Administration. He spoke on The Impact Of Future Technology On Business. This trend, keeping an eye on technology has been a recurring one, and showed itself throughout many of the presentations.
A session with representatives from BNP Paribas Security Services, Deutsche Bank, Meritsoft, and others centered around regulation and how digital is driving change. A later session on industry collaboration between custodians, clients, and fintech asked if digital solutions are meeting client needs.
Our own Armon Saied, Product Lead for BNM360 (Bank Network Management Platform), was at the expo, presenting on automated workflows for account management. During his session he shared that, “in due diligence we see deeper and deeper workflow automation. We now have the tools to be more rules-driven and automate on a deeper level. Very sophisticated analytics, big data analytics, being able to do it within existing integrations.” Digital is at the heart of due diligence at this time. Any way you look at it, digitalization and tech will continue to have their place in the banking industry.
2. Post-COVID Due Diligence Recovery
One of the biggest themes we saw throughout the event was approaching due diligence through the lens of post-covid business practices. CENTRL CEO, Sanjeev Dheer, joined a panel with Holly Winsor-Crowley of State Street Bank, Alpana Johnsson of SEB, Gary Toomey of Northern Trust, and Mike Drake of Brown Brothers Harriman to discuss the topic. The expectations of both buyers and sellers have changed since the beginning of 2020 and there will be a new standard. During the event Sanjeev shared that he is hopeful about the changes coming out of COVID,“I’m pretty optimistic about the new normal on many different levels. With the smart use of technology we’ll have scenarios where we’re doing better with enhanced risk management, deeper workflow automation, and more flexibility overall.”
Even in an industry seemingly not directly influenced by covid, the pandemic had a massive impact on the entire world and the due diligence process has felt that.
3. A New Due Diligence Dawn for the Network Management Community
As seen from points one and two above, looking to the future was a prevalent topic this year. Russell Callaway, Business Development at CENTRL, focused on the future of due diligence with automation and analytics by providing a live demonstration of next generation due diligence software for network management. Russell said, “It is the most comprehensive network management tool and when I saw it I knew I could help banks automate and digitize their due diligence process.” It is technology like this that will help shape the future of network management.
As we shift into a post-pandemic reality this Network Forum has felt different. Attendees and presenters alike are optimistic about the future of the industry and ready to embrace new technologies for bank network management and due diligence.
CENTRL’s BNM360 is the most comprehensive and advanced platform for Bank Network Management, enabling automation of the end-to-end due diligence process to a degree not available till now. The platform includes modules for DDQ monitoring and RFPs, Account Management Workflows, Master Agent Bank & Account Database and Account Recertification. Built by leading technologists in collaboration with global network managers, BNM360 delivers significant operational efficiencies through highly automated workflows, collaboration and configurability. It also provides deep risk analytics, powerful regulatory compliance capabilities and – as a modern SaaS platform – is highly cost effective to implement and maintain.
To learn more about BNM360 click here.
