This is the asset management industry.

In our modern world of real-time information flows and instant action - think Netflix, Prime Now - the asset management industry should be at the vanguard of technological development. It should be hyper-efficient - operating with high levels of automation and transparency.

It is not.

Asset management is grossly inefficient with many asset managers running billions in assets all on spreadsheets. They are still working with 20th-century technology, resulting in minimal automation and almost no real-time processes. Investors are generally not given information in any sort of timely manner that would allow them to make informed decisions.

The industry also suffers from an egregious alignment of interest problem. It focuses on growing assets to earn more management fees, not on providing better performance for its investors. Investors are seen as resources, not customers.

I don't think this is hyperbole, but after climate change, getting asset management right is one of the great challenges of our time.

How can we address this problem?

Change will not come from the incumbent asset managers. They have the wrong people, processes, and technology. They are also comfortable with the resultant opacity as it helps them retain their existing fee streams. Instead, we have to look outside - particularly to those FinTech/InvesTech firms looking to radically shake things up.

How big is the opportunity?

There is a real and increasingly urgent demand by investors, both large and small, for better solutions; to be treated like customers rather than sources of fees. Further, the right use of technology can leverage massive change. It is not that hard to capture the loyalty of investors if you can genuinely offer better solutions at a lower cost. Money can shift very quickly.

Annual revenues for asset managers are around $500 billion with margins of up to 40%. That number should be comfortably less than $100 billion, leaving a massive umbrella for value creation by InvesTech firms.

How are we going to enable this change?

Which of the FinTech/InvesTech firms will be the new unicorns? Where are those courageous venture capital firms looking to create a name for themselves by positively impacting the world in a very big way?

InvesTech is not the typical consumer-based FinTech solution founded by energetic young entrepreneurs. Being successful requires a critical mass of industry knowledge, deep technical solution proficiency, and business model innovation. There are fewer firms that meet these criteria.

But if we get it right…

Are you…