Broadridge
Big Data Solutions for Investment Product Distribution Across Region

Dan Cwenar, President of Access Data, a Broadridge Company says, “Creating transparency into the details of product distribution is a challenging hurdle affecting the Big Data space, particularly the investment industry.” Addressing this issue is Broadridge, he added.

Headquartered in Lake Success, NY, Broadridge provides investor communication, securities processing, outsourcing and data and analytics solutions to financial institutions and corporations globally. Through its offerings, Broadridge helps reduce the need for clients to make significant capital investments in operations infrastructure and Big Data, enabling them to concentrate on core business activities.
For example, Broadridge’s Access Data solutions help fund manufacturers uncover underlying detail about the flow and distribution of their products, which is difficult to manage given that funds can distribute on many different platforms and key distribution data is distributed across the market. Specifically, Broadridge helps funds uncover their market share, which advisors are most successful at selling which products, how they rank against other funds, and in what geographical regions they’re gaining the most traction. Broadridge provides access to this underlying fund asset and flow information, in turn helping manufacturers gain visibility into how sales and assets are generated and address a myriad of challenges in distribution, compensation management and compliance and risk management.

Creating transparency into the details of product distribution is a challenging hurdle affecting the Big Data space, particularly the investment industry

The solution completely integrates hundreds of sources of data and systems, eliminating manual re-keying and creating an efficient workflow process for sales, operations, finance, compliance, and marketing. In addition, these solutions aggregate and enhance distribution data from both internal and external sources, making it possible to provide deep insights for sales and finance teams; and manage compliance with existing and future regulatory requirements.
As per Cwenar, the success story of Charles Schwab— an American brokerage, fund supermarket, and banking company—is one of the best examples of the effectiveness of Broadridge’s data management solutions. Charles Schwab partnered with Broadridge to build a platform to aggregate their investment transactions and account asset positions to deliver business intelligence to funds that distribute through the Charles Schwab platform. On a daily basis, Broadridge takes every transaction on the Charles Schwab platform and delivers multiple reports that tell them how they are really performing and where they need to perhaps make adjustments in their sales and distribution strategies.

Shedding light on Broadridge’s biggest differentiating factor, Cwenar says, “Our ability to securely and independently deliver and manage solutions to every point in the distribution chain linking investment product manufacturers, intermediaries, and consumers is unique. We are positioned to deliver scale, efficiency, operational systems, and intelligence to the asset management industry through our data-driven solutions.”

Moving forward, the company aims to further strengthen its ‘Big Data’ capabilities for asset management and brokerage firms with technologies from EMC and other Big Data technology providers. Cwenar says, “At our core, we aggregate and enhance data and will invest further to provide linkages to additional subaccounting platforms and product types including retirement record keepers and TPAs and alternative investments, as examples. We are making a significant investment in the science of data, i.e. data analytics, and technology that allows us to build innovative products.” Broadridge is presently helping financial institutions and corporate issuers through technology and operations outsourcing, and the company is planning to e xpand these services across a number of business categories, he added.