Ultimus Fund Solutions - one of the largest, independent mutual fund services and middle-office technology providers for RIAs in the country - conducted a full day of informative sessions and panels for their asset management clients yesterday at the beautiful art deco Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Hotel.

The conference theme of Momentum was articulated in the welcome remarks by Bob Dorsey, CEO & Managing Director of Ultimus. He emphasized that to build and maintain momentum in your business, you need to realize that it is a dedicated, long term, multi-year process. You cannot take a few steps and believe it will create immediate success. He illustrated his points by describing the steps that Ultimus took to grow and build the momentum of the firm.

Day 2 of the Conference had twelve different general and breakout sessions with industry experts covering the most important trending topics in the asset management industry covering the compliance, regulatory, tax, cybersecurity, distribution, fund governance, and technology areas.

Some examples of discussions included:

Dina Tantra from Ultimus, Mike Wible from Thompson Hine (Managing Partner - Columbus office) and Marty Burns from the ICI (Chief Industry Operating Officer) discussed regulatory hot topics like the anticipated proposal for an ETF Rule and the recent SEC rule proposals on best interest standard for broker-dealers with retail customers and the standard of care level for investment advisers. On the latter they encouraged Investment Advisors to comment and to stay tuned for clarifications on a very complex and confusing set of proposals.

Todd Cipperman, Principal of Cipperman Compliance Services reviewed his list of top 10 compliance trends in the industry and provided 10 action items for asset managers to best position and protect themselves from the recent trend in regulatory actions.

Adam Kornegay and Jace Schuppan of Ultimus led a panel discussion on the use and business applications for asset managers on different fund structures including private funds, CITs, interval funds and retirement share classes.

Kevin Guerette from Ultimus led a panel of money manager analysts which included Andrew Miller of JPMorgan, Andrew Kitching of Commonwealth, and Ted Finlay of Fifth Third Bank to discuss their investment due diligence process on asset managers and requirements to get on their investment platforms.

The day was capped off with a networking reception and dinner for guests at Paul Brown Stadium on the Cincinnati waterfront.