Trustee and Fiduciary Services Global Asset Management Industry Insights

Prime, Futures and Securities Services 16 OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE: OUTSOURCING AND CYBER At an International level, IOSCO first looked at outsourcing back in 2005. More recently, in 2018/19, European supervisory bodies, along with certain national regulators, are more interested in what they perceive to be a general trend in outsourcing to the cloud. Firms could be doing this to reduce costs, but also as a mechanism for improving their flexibility and efficiency. What is evident from every paper published by regulators on this subject is that regulated firms such as asset managers retain full responsibility and accountability for discharging obligations in this way. They cannot delegate any part of this responsibility to a third party. We asked respondents to tell us what their own plans for outsourcing are. Given that regulators have already seen a trend in this respect, did the survey responses support this? Some 39% of respondents tell us that they already outsource functions to the cloud, with a further 16% saying that they have plans to outsource to the cloud in the future. Meanwhile, 41% of respondents aren’t sure of their firm’s plans, and given that regulators have stated that responsibility for outsourcing can’t be delegated, this might be something for certain firms to reflect on. Finally, 4% say they aren’t even considering outsourcing as a possibility. Does your firm currently, or is it planning to, outsource to a cloud-based solution? Q9 4 % No, we don’t and we have no plans to outsource to the cloud 39 % Yes, we currently outsource to the cloud 16 % We’re planning to outsource to the cloud 41 % Don’t know