Tag: Investors

Innovation at a turning point: How tokenisation, AI and new investor expectations are reshaping Asset Management

Posted on by Melanie Lopes

At Reseo, we know that not everyone has the time to listen to every podcast episode in full. That’s why, alongside each conversation in our State of the Art series, we publish a clear, concise written summary — capturing the most important ideas, themes and insights for readers across our industry.

In this edition, we distil the key messages from our conversation with John Allan, Head of Innovation and Operations at the Investment Association, about the forces redefining investment management today — from tokenisation and AI to fund modernisation, ESG data and the expectations of a new generation of investors.

Tokenisation Enters the Mainstream

 Tokenisation has long been discussed as a theoretical possibility, but the past year marked a decisive shift toward real adoption. Several tokenised funds have now launched in the UK, demonstrating that distributed ledger technology (DLT) can serve as the shareholder register for investment funds — a development the Investment Association refers to as investment fund tokenisation.

This momentum will accelerate further as the UK prepares to issue its first digital gilt, lending legitimacy to tokenised assets within capital markets and strengthening the bridge between government issuance and the buy side.

AI: Incremental Gains Today, Transformational Potential Tomorrow

AI now touches nearly every part of the investment value chain. The gains currently visible are incremental — automating tasks, improving accuracy, speeding up processes — but the longer-term potential is far more significant. Firms recognise they must experiment proactively, even as they navigate varying regulatory approaches across the EU, US and UK. The UK’s principles-based stance creates uncertainty but also offers the freedom needed to innovate.

ESG and the Data Challenge

While enthusiasm for ESG remains strong, inconsistent measurement frameworks and data reliability issues continue to challenge the industry. With multiple methodologies and definitions competing in the market, firms still struggle to translate ESG information into decision-useful insights. More standardisation is needed before ESG data can fully support long-term investment strategies.

The Rise of the Digital Investor

A generational shift is also reshaping innovation priorities. Digital-native investors expect immediacy, transparency and intuitive digital experiences, often comparing the ease of buying crypto with the friction of investing in regulated funds. To respond, the Investment Association’s Investment Fund 3.0 initiative aims to modernise fund structures by improving liquidity, accelerating settlement, removing paper and making fund interactions more intuitive.

Where Firms Should Focus Next

As innovation accelerates — from quantum technologies to satellite-derived data — firms must be selective about where they invest their resources. Successful organisations will treat innovation as a strategic pillar rather than an optional add-on, embedding technology awareness across the entire board rather than relying on a single specialist. They will allocate meaningful budget to experimentation, accept that some initiatives will fail, and learn quickly from those that succeed. And they will increasingly look beyond their own walls, partnering with fintechs and external innovators to solve operational challenges faster and more efficiently. In a landscape where the pace of change is accelerating, firms that adopt this mindset will be best positioned to navigate what comes next.

Click here to listen to the full recording regarding this article.

Financial Crime Goes Global: How Europe Is Fighting Back

Posted on by Melanie Lopes

In the latest episode of “State of the Art,” Reseo’s podcast on innovation, regulation and trust in investment management, host Pierre-Yves Rahari sat down with Giles Swan, Public Policy and Regulatory Consultant, to explore how financial crime is evolving and how Europe is responding.

In this article, we look at how financial crime has become a truly global and technology-driven phenomenon, how the EU’s new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) and AMLD6 directive aim to tackle it, and how technology is reshaping compliance and supervision across the investment industry.

The Globalisation of Financial Crime

Financial crime has long been part of the financial landscape, but its scale and sophistication have changed dramatically. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, money laundering alone accounts for an estimated 2–5% of global GDP — between USD 2 trillion and 4.5 trillion annually.

“Those are huge numbers,” said Giles Swan. “They represent a significant issue not only for governments and regulators, but also commercially for firms that want to remain viable in a fast-evolving landscape.”

What’s new is the globalisation of financial crime. Enabled by technology, perpetrators now operate across jurisdictions, using digital networks to obscure ownership and move funds instantaneously. “We are not just dealing with local actors anymore,” Swan explained. “Technology has turned financial crime into an inherently cross-border challenge — involving both state and private actors with far greater sophistication than before.”

Europe’s Coordinated Response: AMLA and AMLD6

In response to this expanding threat, Europe is reshaping its anti-money-laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist-financing (CTF) framework. The creation of AMLA — the new European Anti-Money Laundering Authority, headquartered in Frankfurt — marks a major shift toward a coordinated, supranational model.

Historically, EU member states managed financial crime at the national level, resulting in divergent rules and supervision. AMLA’s mandate is to harmonise oversight and directly supervise certain high-risk, cross-border entities. “This is about joining up the dots,” said Swan. “The idea is to ensure that regulation keeps pace with the cross-border nature of financial crime, rather than being fragmented by national boundaries.”

Alongside AMLA, the sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD6) and accompanying AML Regulation aim to strengthen consistency across the EU. A key feature is the Ultimate Beneficial Ownership register, designed to improve transparency by requiring firms to identify and verify the individuals behind corporate structures — a move that will have deep implications for investment managers, fund administrators, and service providers.

“These rules demand greater use of technology,” Swan noted. “Manual processes that were once sufficient under earlier directives won’t be enough. Firms will need systems that can handle complex ownership structures efficiently.”

Collaboration, Technology, and Compliance in Practice

As regulations tighten, investment firms are re-evaluating their compliance frameworks. The focus is shifting from reactive reporting to proactive data analysis and technology-driven detection.

“The landscape is inherently technological now,” Swan said. “In the crypto-asset sector, for example, blockchain analytics tools like chain analysis are being used directly to track and prevent financial crime. That’s a model from which the traditional asset management industry can learn.”

He points to a convergence between RegTech (for firms) and SupTech (for regulators). Both sides are exploring how AI, distributed ledger technology, and real-time data can improve risk identification and reduce false positives. “There’s an exciting partnership potential here,” Swan added. “Regulators don’t need to reinvent the wheel — they can build on what the industry has already developed.” 

The Road Ahead: A Smarter Regulatory Future

As enforcement becomes more coordinated, firms can expect more cross-border actions and deeper scrutiny of control frameworks. Yet the shift also presents an opportunity: greater regulatory convergence across the EU could reduce friction for compliant firms and enhance trust with clients and counterparties.

Swan emphasised that boards have a central role to play. “Every board should ask two questions,” he advised. “First, how are our financial crime policies being implemented in practice? Second, what is our weakest link? That’s where the greatest exposure lies — whether in a management company, fund structure, or service provider.”

Ultimately, fighting financial crime requires a balance of vigilance, collaboration, and technological innovation. “The good news,” Swan concluded, “is that regulators and industry are finally moving in the same direction.”

Click here to listen to the full podcast based on this article.

Champions League: When the collective wins

Posted on by Melanie Lopes

The Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG) team brilliantly won the Champions League on Saturday night, at the end of a match that was breathtaking, but above all remarkable for the determined, go-getter and collective spirit that the team displayed. We saw a team often concentrated in the middle of the opponent’s field; strategic in its approach; generous in collective passes; and united in its desire to score goals. Moreover, for those who were able to watch this match, the few individual attempts to score goals alone ended in failure, only to be taken back by the collective. The result is there: 5-0 for PSG. No comment.

That said, comments from media abounded after this victory, not only on the quality of the team’s game; on the philosophy of coach Luis Enrique, who for the past two years has favoured collective play rather than favouring individual, star-like performance; but also, on the financial support – admittedly staggering, but truly committed – of the club’s owner.

All this brings us back to our experience at Reseo, where we are developing a solution to help digitalise the AML-KYC process in investment funds, with a view to improve customer experience and risk management, in an extremely strategic area for the industry. Every day, we meet players who share the same vision as us, but who occupy different positions than ours in the AML-KYC operational chessboard: Distribution platforms; onboarding platforms; transfer agents; data providers; open-source platforms; consultants; lawyers; and many more.

As we progress, we are amazed by the talent of these various players we meet in the field of AML-KYC. We are convinced that the different players that we are will benefit from playing as a collective, collaborating, developing a common strategy in the service of our vision and our industry, rather than playing individually in our own corner.

This is the spirit of the collaboration we have developed with Multifonds since last year; And this is also the spirit of other ongoing conversations we have been having in the industry over the past few months. Result: Constructive meetings; innovative solutions that benefit our joint customers and the industry; and investors and VC firms who are convinced of the strength of the collective work we are undertaking.

Who would have thought that a football match would inspire an article on the digitalisation of AML-KYC in the investment funds industry? Certainly not PSG when they took to the pitch in Munich on Saturday night. But just like that, all the roads lead to Rome.

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