The Malvern, Pa., giant's mistake may have been chancing a code change in notoriously hazardous December, an IT expert says, though Vanguard points to a third party
Vanguard's clients have been locked out of statements, confirmations and other forms at a critical point in the year due to website problems that have persisted for six days with no end in sight.
Company CEO Tim Buckley has personally stepped into the fray--that's his voice on a recorded message that frustrated clients hear when the call with questions.
At the start of 2021, Buckley promised his firm would invest $1 billion to improve the firm's website and technology.
"First of all, Fidelity spends more than that. I know $1 billion sounds like a lot, but it isn't when you're the size of Vanguard."
The Malvern, Pa., mutual fund giant, with $8 trillion in assets, is pointing the finger at a third-party vendor.
It declined to disclose the name of the firm and also stopped short of offering a timeline when the tech snafu will be resolved.
The technology failure may be third party and it may be the kind of thing that happens to virtually all firms, yet the timing -- just before Christmas and lasting so far, through Dec. 29 -- looks like an unforced error, says Doug Fritz, president of F2 Strategy and former chief technology officer of First Republic Bank.
"There are Holy Grails in big financial technology land. Number one is don't touch any code from early December to late January.
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