Financial institutions across the world are monitoring and dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Network ESC helps clients who are working to understand the immediate challenges to society, economies, and the long-term impact on the interconnected financial system. With our expertise, many clients have been able to make good decisions in today’s highly volatile operating environment. While it is too early to fully understand the long-term effect of these events, financial institutions across the banking and capital markets, insurance, and asset management sectors must prepare for the TP impact of the 'new normal'. While employee well-being must remain central to any organization’s strategy, our work with financial services executives and industry analysts around the world suggest leading firms should now be focusing on five key priorities as they plan their path to recovery.
1. Productivity improvement and technology enablement. Financial services firms are looking for ways to rapidly accelerate their digital transformation and cloud enablement technologies.
2. Reconnecting with customers. Recognizing that customer expectations and needs have rapidly changed, firms are now implementing programs aimed at improving customer engagement.
3. Creating vibrant ecosystems and partnerships. With business models and market dynamics continuing to evolve, financial services firms are engaging with non-traditional partners to create new value propositions for customers.
4. Embedding social responsibility and purpose. As markets and economies look towards recovery, there are growing calls for increased focus on environmental, social, and governance considerations.
5. Improving risk management and agility. The leading financial services firms are taking steps today to improve their ability to deal with sudden shocks and unexpected risks in the future.
The problem isn’t motivation within the industry - it is capacity and capability. Ongoing
lockdowns (and the threat of future lockdowns) have disrupted normal workflows and project lifecycles. At the same time, many financial services firms are struggling with the same talent shortages and capability gaps they were experiencing before COVID-19 struck. At Network ESC, we believe the financial services markets of the future will largely be shaped by those firms that are able to anticipate tomorrow while delivering on the priorities of today.