Ready, Set, Grow: Archer’s 2024 Product Roadmap

At the end of each year, our team at Archer pauses to reflect on the progress we’ve made as a business as well as a look toward the future. 2023 was another transformative year for the asset management industry. Markets remained rocky, investors continued their push for personalized products, and emerging technology like artificial intelligence (AI) invaded the industry in new ways. Yet despite the shifting ground many managers found themselves on, the industry proved its resilience once again.

As the industry continues to evolve, so does our business and the way we serve our clients. Remaining nimble and responding to industry trends is part of our DNA at Archer, and will remain a core aspect of our culture for years to come. This dedication to progress has fueled our success thus far as well as that of our clients.

ENHANCING OUR SERVICE OFFERING

In this article, we’d like to share the ways we’re pursuing innovation today as well as our plans to continue doing so. To start, here are a few enhancements we rolled out in 2023 and will continue implementing over the next year:

FLEXIBLE SOLUTION FOR TAX OPTIMIZATION & DIRECT INDEXING

As investors continue to call for customized offerings, asset managers need infrastructure that enables them to create and distribute these products efficiently and effectively. In 2023, we responded to this demand with an open architecture solution for bringing tax-efficient strategies to market. By partnering with Archer, managers can leverage a proprietary or third-party optimizer or leverage our partnership with Brooklyn Investment Group.

ELEVATED AFTER TAX PERFORMANCE

Additionally, we are helping asset managers provide better visibility into how fees and taxes affect performance with our after-tax performance solution. Clients leveraging this service can access custom client report packages that compare a portfolio’s total, fee-adjusted, and after-tax returns.

IMPROVED CLOUD-BASED DATA STORAGE

Asset managers are using data to identify trends, make decisions, and measure success. Archer offers investment managers a variety of options for efficiently accessing data, including our data cloud hosted through Snowflake. Managers using our data cloud can access a complete dataset on their terms, with greater flexibility and efficiency that leads to better investment management decision making. In 2024, we will continue to make the Snowflake data cloud available to our clients to provide more flexibility in terms of the type, amount, and arrangement of data managers can use to enhance their operations.

ARCHER’S 2024 PRODUCT ROADMAP

In addition to these continued rollouts, we’re excited to share with you our plans to expand our technology offering and operations support in the coming year. Here are a few of the enhancements we have planned to launch over the next 12 months:

VALUE-ADDING SERVICE ENHANCEMENTS

To increase efficiency, we’re leveraging AI to further automate reconciliation and cash flow processing. The technology will automatically identify and match transactions and close out paperwork, creating efficiencies for the service team. We’re also enhancing our client service dashboard to maximize efficiency and response time for client service requests through better routing and queuing. We’re using Gecko, a workflow and oversight tool that uses AI to create efficiencies in monitoring and addressing client inquiries, to supplement our best in breed client experience. This will enable increased transparency into incoming inquiries and requests as emails are captured by the ticketing system, automatically assigned to agent teams, and tracked for SLAs.

GLOBAL T+1 SETTLEMENT READINESS

On May 24, 2024, the SEC’s mandate takes effect, requiring trade settlement to move from T+2 to T+1 for cash equities, corporate debt, and unit investment trusts. T+1 readiness has been a focus for our clients as the industry prepares for this shift. At Archer, we are familiar with this timeline; Archer currently matches more than 95% of trades on trade date. We are working with our clients to make sure they are ready for the shift, and taking several steps to ensure a smooth transition. For example, we’ve instituted a DTCC product called DTC Trade Match (level 1) to reduce the time required to identify and resolve discrepancies due to outdated broker SSI information. We’re evaluating a “swift return” functionality to provide additional information on trade status (e.g., matched, unmatched, settled, etc.). We’re also conducting preliminary analysis on a “Match to Instruct” product (M2i) within Central Trade Matching (CTM). This will take the matched transaction in CTM and submit it as an affirmed confirm into the settlement cycle at the DTC, removing manual touchpoints. We are also engaging in a T+1 industry working group to ensure best practices across the board.

BUILDING A FOUNDATION FOR FUTURE INNOVATION

I couldn’t be prouder of what we’re building at Archer. None of this would be possible without our incredible team and clients committed to pushing the boundaries of innovation every day. We’re thrilled to see what the future holds. In the meantime, I hope you all find time to spend with your loved ones this holiday season, and I look forward to another successful year together.

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