It was June 2014, and I was flying back from Lisbon for an exciting interview at J.P. Morgan Bank Luxembourg. Landing this job would validate that getting a master’s degree was worth it. I was thrilled about being part of our fund industry.
There could be no delays in my travel plans. I was scheduled to land at 13:15, and the interview was set for 14:00. Fortunately, a friend picked me up, giving me enough time to put on my suit and share my excitement about interviewing for a leading bank.
The interview went extremely well.
Even though there was a heat wave, I was glad I wore a suit, considering the interview was with a Vice President, indicating a serious role. We delved into discussions about finance, efficient market theory, and the fund industry.
I was offered several roles.
Rock star
As a 24-year-old, this made me feel like a rock star. An industry goliath sought after me! I had the option to join the Transfer Agency and choose from roles in the Dealing, Registration, or Cash teams. Although the roles sounded interesting, I received only a fixed-term contract, a CDD.
Knowing that accepting a CDD contract could hinder my chances of securing an apartment to rent, I was forced to consider a different direction. I decided to take a permanent role with Alter Domus as a Consolidation Officer in their accounting department.
Unfortunately, my tenure at Alter Domus only lasted 7 months.
I then contacted the Vice President at J.P. Morgan Bank Luxembourg (I never got to meet the actual President) and secured a permanent position in the Cash department of the Transfer Agency. I was ready to leverage my master’s degree and fully immerse myself in the fund industry.
However, disillusionment settled in quickly.
Too complex
From the outside, everything seemed marvelous, with a prestigious institution on my CV and wearing a professional suit every day. But on the inside, the reality of working for a Transfer Agency and what it taught me about the fund industry was sobering: the industry was too complex.
I found myself not learning much about the fund industry. I was assigned to the redemption team in the Cash department, verifying that the dealing team had correctly input bank account details on thousands of orders. It became a mind-numbing activity, to say the least.
After a year, I managed to move to the Pricing team, where I ensured that the NAVs produced by the Fund Accounting department were correctly applied to the day’s subscriptions and redemptions. Yet, even this became tedious quickly.
Two years into the role, I realized that I was only playing a tiny part in the distribution of funds and had no real understanding of how funds were manufactured, registered, and distributed. I had no idea about the roles of lawyers, fund accountants, consultants, etc., in the industry.
Who can see the bigger picture?
The whole industry had been transformed into an assembly line to simplify processes, and unfortunately, it seemed that nobody could see the bigger picture anymore. The process of turning savings into investments had become hopelessly complex.
We have broken fund management into so many pieces that it is hard to understand how to improve the process. Everyone is in their own little bubble. Perhaps we should make things simpler again by redoing everything from A to Z.
Gregory Kennedy is a columnist for Investment Officer Luxembourg. His columns appear every other Wednesday. He also works as a business development manager at Finsoft Luxembourg.
