August 8, 2024
Marketing Director
ZURICH, 8 August 2024 – A summer survey conducted by qashqade AG has uncovered significant data trust issues among private market participants. The survey, which included responses from over 200 industry professionals, found that 84% of respondents do not fully trust the data they receive from third parties or even their colleagues.
Additionally, 84% of survey participants, comprised equally of general partners, limited partners, and advisors/service providers, reported disagreements with counterparties over the interpretation of contract clauses, such as Limited Partnership Agreements (LPAs).
These trust and interpretation issues appear to contribute to workplace stress, with 75% of respondents indicating difficulty in leaving work-related issues at the office. One respondent noted, "It’s nearly impossible to switch off."
When asked what could disrupt their holiday mode this summer, 55% of respondents pointed to 'critical staff leaving' as a major concern, underscoring how prevalent key person risk is in the industry.
The survey also explored potential consequences of data errors, with respondents warning of severe impacts such as “loss of value to our clients,” “reputational damage to our company,” “losing millions,” and even “bankruptcy.”
Oliver Freigang, CEO & Co-Founder of qashqade, commented, "These findings confirm what we see regularly in the private markets sector. The high levels of mistrust in fund data can be attributed to human error and a reliance on unstable spreadsheets, which in turn leads to additional stress levels leaving finance and operations teams exposed to undue risk."
Matthew Craig-Greene from Private Markets Advisory, Wagtails added, “Whilst it is worrying that there is so much uncertainty around key data and contract clauses, it is at least refreshing to see that these important issues are rising up the agenda for private markets professionals.”
A lighter side to the survey revealed how private market professionals relax away from the office, their plans for the summer, and some of their deepest professional secrets.
While three-quarters enjoy spending time with friends and family to relax, 12% indicated they scream silently into a pillow to let off steam.
In addition to spending time with loved ones, respondents reported engaging in various activities to unwind, including playing or watching live sports, going to the gym, exercising, reading, cooking, and playing video games. One respondent shared a particularly distinctive way of relaxing: “Scotch and cigars.”
Summer plans include visits to St. Tropez, Italy, Hawaii, and enjoying the Olympics. However, many professionals cited “work” with a short holiday as their main summer activity.
When asked, "What's your deepest professional secret?" many respondents confessed to experiencing imposter syndrome and confidence issues. Other intriguing admissions included, “I use AI to read documents I should read myself,” “We are a much smaller company than we appear,” and “I don’t actually do any work.”
The full survey results are available here.
Engineered in Switzerland by private markets experts, qashqade guarantees accuracy, improves transparency and builds trust between GPs, LPs and their beneficiaries. It does this through an award-winning enterprise product suite that streamlines and automates fee and waterfall calculations and reporting for private funds, replacing manual processes and unstable spreadsheets. The qashqade platform offers CFOs a modular solution that can handle any asset class and any level of complexity. Headquartered in Zürich, qashqade also has offices in New York, London, and Budapest.
