Another certainty is never having enough time in the day or week!  Hannah and I both have global remits and that means an early start and late finish.  I wouldn’t have it any other way though and love what I do.

Lastly, I try each week to do something creative or exercise my mind in a different way – I am a late but passionate adopter of meditation and find it helps a lot with stress and being able to think more clearly.

What changes have you seen within your respective corners of the investment industry in the past year?

Hannah Shaw Grove, Apex
Apex works with start-ups and established businesses to help them digitize the securities clearing and custody processes that facilitate investing. Over the past year we continued to see a lot of early stage entrepreneurial activity to help lower the barriers to entry for people who are new to the capital markets and make the process simpler and smarter for all types of investors, especially via mobile technology.

In the same vein, we are working with more companies to make the US markets accessible to non-US investors and deliver greater connectivity across the different parts of a financial portfolio so people can make more informed decisions and act on them seamlessly. 

Hannah Grove, State Street
Our purpose at State Street is to create better outcomes for the world’s investors and the people they serve.  The combined forces of increased complexity, heightened regulation, increased scrutiny on costs, greater competition and overall market dynamics have made those better outcomes more challenging than ever for our clients to achieve. 

The result is that more of them are looking for a deeper partnership, and one that goes beyond the typical service provider ethos – providing insights that clients can’t get anywhere else, taking a stand on important industry issues, delivering not just what clients need today but also anticipating what they need to support their growth in the future. 

What are some new types of business your firm is looking at for 2020 and beyond?

Hannah Shaw Grove, Apex
The pace of technology is accelerating and our goal is to move in lock-step with innovation, making it easy for forward-thinking companies to consume our technology. Over the next 12 months we will be introducing a number of tools specifically for software developers starting with an enhanced API documentation portal and sandbox.

Additionally, we are focused on further streamlining the customer onboarding process with cutting-edge identity verification tools, like biometrics, that will increase CIP effectiveness and speed.