Simplification in an Age of Complexity

European FSI have seen their fair share of regulatory-decreed change, but the coming years will take regulatory activity/ activism to new heights. From greener finance, ethical AI, even higher capital ratios, more transparency, a series of anti-money laundering laws, and a new focus on digital operational resiliency – just to name a few of the most impactful regulatory changes in the pipeline. Essentially the list of compliance tasks is getting longer, their scope more far-reaching, and the implications on the business more serious.

This hits European FSI at a time where they are struggling to keep pace with international and digital peers in terms of cost, growth and productivity. Clearly, there is no simple solution for what’s ahead of the industry, but simplification, automation, and replication seem to be the tools to succeed in the “digital” 20s. None of these are new, but today technology is allowing banks to implement and execute these operating principles at scale across the entire organization. The challenge will be however, not to create new legacies and get a handle on complexity.

Customer-facing innovation has been the key investment priority for the last few years, but as a matter of fact has often underdelivered lacking the right foundation to build on. It’s time to shift the focus inwards and put an end to the messy middle & back office and rethink operations, infrastructure, security & trust and the future of work from ground up. This means nothing less than to redesign operations and IT for trust, resiliency, transparency, sustainability, productivity, and efficiency. Profitability and better customer/ employee experiences will follow naturally.

During the IDC European Financial Services Digital Summit 2022, we will discuss successful strategies to adapt to this rapidly changing world.

We look forward to connecting with you soon!

Roberta and Thomas