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Financial Services
Posted by: Brian Gardner | Thursday, May 16, 2013 - 17:58
Facing low interest rates, deleveraging, recurring scandals and increasing capital requirements, banks have struggled in recent years. The prospects for many of them are no better going forward. Where once, a score of institutions aspired to be globe spanning, universal banks, the ambitions of many would-be financial titans, have been tempered by crisis and overreach.This doesn’t mean that there haven’t been winners as well as losers. The very largest banks have generally increased their market shares as some when bankrupt and other second tier competitors have struggled to stay afloat in the...
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Posted by: David Line | Tuesday, May 7, 2013 - 11:34
It will hardly come as a surprise that a survey we publish today shows that institutional investors—that is, asset owners like insurers and pension funds, asset managers, and intermediaries like fund platforms and consultants—have become more risk-aware since the global financial crisis. Yet the extent of the shift in mindset is startling: whereas only 30% of investment organisations made risk their highest priority in 2007, today 78% of respondents say their organisation has a very risk-aware culture. Another surprise is that despite this wholesale shift in attitudes, there remains...
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Posted by: Brian Gardner | Thursday, April 11, 2013 - 13:52
Something is very wrong in Europe; unemployment floats near all time highs in the history of the single currency and the euro zone’s economic growth remains meagre at best. This would appear to be grounds for dynamic action on the part of both governments and the European Central Bank but such endeavours have been slow in coming. On the fiscal front, governments in southern Europe are constrained by their already high borrowing costs and the push for austerity limits the extent to which demand can be stimulated directly by public sector spending. This makes monetary policy more vital than...
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Posted by: James Chambers | Thursday, March 28, 2013 - 11:36
Earlier this week, the outgoing governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King convened a panel of his high-profile friends to discuss the lessons that economists should learn from the global financial crisis. Admittedly it was not a new topic for this popular event, co-organised by the UK central bank and the London School of Economics, but neither was it rigidly adhered to by the high profile panellists – including Ben Bernanke, King's counterpart at the US Federal Reserve.First up to speak, Bernanke reminisced about the adjoining offices he and King occupied when both were academics at MIT...
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Posted by: Monica Woodley | Monday, March 4, 2013 - 00:00
The insurance industry has not suffered the same reputation-damaging scandals as the banking industry, however, for some consumers, as insurers are financial institutions they have been tarred with the same brush – and need to prove their worth. In a recent survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, insurers agreed that they have a duty to contribute positively to society. However some quite bravely admitted that they are not meeting their societal responsibilities. What’s getting in their way?Regulation looks like the main culprit. Over half of survey respondents believe that...
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Posted by: The Big Ideas P... | Friday, January 11, 2013 - 15:47
In this Big Ideas Project for the Financial Services community, Chris Clark, Group Head of Marketing at HSBC looks at how prioritising the customers' needs will result in success.
Filmed at The Big Rethink which took place on March 3rd 2012 in London.
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Chris, who has
been head of customer experience
at HSBC, will share with us the challenges of understanding and engaging with such a diverse customer base in the markets where "the world's...
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Posted by: Monica Woodley | Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - 15:00
I wish I had a pound for every time I heard “mobile” at the recent Economist European Retail Banking Summit. After watching how mobile payments system M-Pesa transformed banking in Kenya, developed-world retail bankers have had their eyes opened and now see mobile banking as the next game-changer in their industry. It’s easy to see why they are excited about mobile. There are over 6.2 billion mobiles– as Candido Leonelli, managing director at Brazil-based Banco Bradesco, said at the Summit, there are more mobiles than toothbrushes in the world. The M-Pesa example shows the appetite for mobile...
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Posted by: Peter Vicary-Smith | Wednesday, December 5, 2012 - 14:07
Since the start of the financial crisis, banking and the behaviour of bankers hasn't been far from the headlines. From bailed-out banks, to the Libor rate-rigging scandal to widespread mis-selling, consumers have been continually let down by the banks. So it’s no surprise that the banks have lost the trust of their customers and the confidence of the public. The continuing scandals highlight the urgent need for big change in banking and for banks to work for customers, not bankers. Customer service should come before sales; standards and ethics must improve; and bankers must be held to...
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Posted by: Monica Woodley | Monday, October 29, 2012 - 12:42
We recently surveyed institutional investors in the US and Western Europe to investigate their views surrounding tail risk: what specific risks they are concerned about and why, what strategies they have in place to mitigate the impact of tail risk, what they believe other investors know about tail risk and whether tail risk events will happen more frequently and be more severe than in the past. This infographic gives you a snapshot of institutional investors' main fears but you can also read the full report here.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"311","attributes":{"alt...
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Posted by: Monica Woodley | Friday, October 26, 2012 - 13:49
In response to the 2008 financial crisis and the world recession that followed, central bankers, regulators and governments have drafted numerous regulatory reforms and measures designed to minimise risk and maximise consumer protection in the global financial system.I discussed the potential impact of these new regulations on businesses with Jessica Ground, UK bank analyst at Schroders, and Mark Stancombe, head of client management at Insight Investment. View our conversation here.
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All Financial Services posts
Better banks need better innovation
Posted by: Brian Gardner | Thursday, May 16, 2013 - 17:58
How institutional investors are building risk-aware cultures
Posted by: David Line | Tuesday, May 7, 2013 - 11:34
Should it go for growth or push for safety?
Posted by: Brian Gardner | Thursday, April 11, 2013 - 13:52
UK governor chairs back-slapping panel of global central bankers
Posted by: James Chambers | Thursday, March 28, 2013 - 11:36
Insurers say regulation is making it more difficult to meet consumers' needs
Posted by: Monica Woodley | Monday, March 4, 2013 - 00:00
A big idea for the Financial Services community
Posted by: The Big Ideas P... | Friday, January 11, 2013 - 15:47
How mobiles are transforming retail banking
Posted by: Monica Woodley | Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - 15:00
Posted by: Peter Vicary-Smith | Wednesday, December 5, 2012 - 14:07
