Growth by design starts with your product data

Growth is real. Operational readiness isn't guaranteed.

Global assets under management reached $147tn in 2025. Private markets are expanding, distribution networks are multiplying, and product strategies are more diverse than at any point in the past decade. Yet more than 80% of that revenue growth came from market appreciation, not net inflows.1 Growth is available. Capturing it efficiently is a different challenge entirely.

For firms without a large operations team to absorb the extra complexity, that gap lands hardest. Despite AUM nearly tripling since 2010, industry profitability has stayed broadly flat.2 Investment managers name delivering asset growth and net inflows (31%) as their leading challenge over the next three years, matched exactly by regulatory change and compliance (31%), and followed by cost pressure and operational complexity (29%).3 Talent and skills shortages rank as the most significant long-term industry threat (37%).

Three pressures. One root cause.

Look past the headline numbers and a single constraint keeps resurfacing: fund, share class and registration data still lives across spreadsheets, in-house tools and departmental systems that were never built to talk to each other.

65% of investment managers say fragmented fund data is already preventing operational efficiency.
69% say the speed and accuracy of fund data now shape which distribution partners choose to work with them and keep working with them.
64% say AI will only deliver meaningful value once the quality and structure of their underlying data improves.

These are not three separate problems. They are the same problem, viewed from three different parts of the business. A firm that fixes data quality and connectivity once solves for all three at the same time.

The vendor landscape is consolidating. Waiting has a cost of its own.

89% of investment managers expect consolidation across the industry to increase over the next 12 months, with the greatest impact expected across product ranges, distribution platforms and technology providers, not asset manager mergers alone.

“The findings point to a broader definition of consolidation than many in the industry have traditionally used. It’s no longer confined to mergers and acquisitions. Firms are also looking for efficiencies in their product ranges, technology estates, distribution arrangements and operating partnerships.”

—Adam Graham, Global Head of Product, FE fundinfo

Building around a point solution or an in-house workaround today means re-solving this problem the next time a vendor exits the market or a platform gets absorbed. Choosing a governed, scalable platform now is a hedge against that shrinking landscape, not just a fix for today's data quality.

Product Mastering Core: an enterprise-grade foundation without an enterprise-length project

Product Mastering Core gives investment managers a single, trusted source for mastering fund, share class and registration data. It replaces scattered spreadsheets and departmental workarounds with a governed platform, part of Nexus for Investment Managers, so every team and every downstream system works from the same accurate, approved product data.

Built on the openfunds standard and pre-configured from day one, Product Mastering Core requires no lengthy implementation project. It is live in days, not months, and delivers value from your first fund launch and every one that follows. By transforming product data into a strategic business asset rather than an administrative burden, it is not just today's source of truth. It is your AI-ready foundation for what comes next.

Built for how mid-tier investment managers operate

Launch and register funds faster, every time. The openfunds-aligned data model is pre-built with zero implementation and no implementation fees, so a recurring step disappears from every future launch, not just the first.

One single source your distribution partners can rely on. Every team works from the same fund, share class and registration data, with validation at the point of entry catching errors before they reach platforms, factsheets and filings.

Governance that makes speed safe. Every change is validated, approved and logged with a full audit trail, and fine-grained permissions control who can view and edit each field and record. Moving faster never means losing control.

A foundation that grows with you. Start on Core, prove value fast, and upgrade only when you're ready. Your data, configuration and workflows carry forward to Product Mastering for enterprises, so growth never means starting over.

“With Product Mastering Core, we have one reliable source of fund data to work from. This improves consistency, significantly reduces manual effort, and gives us greater confidence in meeting our regulatory and reporting requirements.”

—Cameron Smith, Head of Investor Disclosure, Valu-Trac Investment Management Limited

Build the foundation now, not after the next growth push

The window between spotting a growth opportunity and being operationally ready to capture it is narrowing. New products bring new reporting requirements. New distribution channels create new data demands. AI raises the bar on governance and consistency. Each addition compounds the complexity already sitting in your spreadsheets.

Product Mastering Core gives smaller and mid-tier investment managers enterprise-grade governance without an enterprise-length implementation, so the foundation is ready before the next launch, not built in response to it.

Speak to an expert

Growth by design starts with your product data

Growth is real. Operational readiness isn't guaranteed.

Three pressures. One root cause.

The vendor landscape is consolidating. Waiting has a cost of its own.

Product Mastering Core: an enterprise-grade foundation without an enterprise-length project

Built for how mid-tier investment managers operate

Build the foundation now, not after the next growth push

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