Breakout Sessions A
A1-Tech Stack Rationalization: What to Keep, Cut, or Replace
Operations leaders at large wealth firms are managing technology ecosystems built through years of acquisitions, workarounds, and vendor relationships that outlasted their usefulness. This session tackles a hard question: how do you make rational, defensible decisions about what stays, what goes, and what gets replaced — without triggering regulatory disruption or operational chaos?
Discussion Questions
- What does your current rationalization process look like, and what is the single biggest obstacle to moving faster?
- How do SEC and FINRA examination requirements shape your technology decisions — and are they ever used as a reason to avoid change that should happen anyway?
- What criteria are you using to evaluate replacements, and how do you weigh integration complexity against feature improvement?
- Have you ever shut down a system that turned out to be harder to replace than expected? What happened? What lessons did you learn?
Facilitated By Head of Operations — Identity Withheld
Format Peer-led · No slides · Chatham House Rules
A2- Custodian Reconciliation at Scale
As firms grow through acquisition or organic expansion, multi-custodian environments become increasingly difficult to manage. Reconciliation exceptions carry regulatory weight and can surface during SEC and FINRA examinations as evidence of inadequate supervisory controls. This session examines how operations leaders are managing reconciliation at scale, what technology is helping, and where the gaps remain.
Discussion Questions
- How many custodian relationships are you managing, and what does your reconciliation workflow a look like today?
- What is your current exception rate, and how do you distinguish a data feed issue from a genuine discrepancy that needs escalation?
- Have you had a FINRA examiner focus on reconciliation during a cycle exam — and what did they look for?
- Are you using a third-party platform, building internally, or something in between — and are you satisfied with your decision?
Facilitated By Head of Operations — Identity Withheld
Format Peer-led · No slides · Chatham House Rules