8APRIL 2025By Fabiana Fedeli, Chief Investment Officer Equities, Multi Asset and Sustainability, M&G InvestmentsINVESTING AND DATA, THE OPPORTUNITY AND THE CHALLENGEFabiana FedeliI would be surprised if there is an asset manager out there that doesn't have data as one of its key priorities. Most likely, it is also one of its most expensive budget items. The use of technology in the investment industry has grown exponentially over the past decade. To different degrees, many of us in our industry felt a false sense of comfort that we had prepared ourselves for the ten years to come. Until we realised that a bigger challenge was about to dawn on us: the exponential growth and evolution of data. For an industry already struggling with information overload, the proliferation of data has, for many, only served to turbo charge the problem while, for others, it presents an opportunity. Whichever side of the argument you fall on, the emerging landscape is leading to an evolution in the way asset managers are sourcing and utilising data. One thing is for sure, this is a struggle that our industry will continue to face for the foreseeable future. There are a number of factors at play which are prompting a need for more data collection, and the subsequent adoption of tech-enabled solutions to process the data and make sense of it. Firstly, the changing regulatory backdrop means that we've seen an explosion in the volume of data related to our own operations and investments, whether it is D&I and climate data on our operations, or broader ESG data on our investments. Asset managers have been realigning resources to comply with new regulations and disclosure requirements ­ both at a corporate and a product level. Companies have been OPINIONIN MY
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