According to a study by Deloitte Center for Financial Services, there is evidence that the financial services industry may finally have a chance in 2014 to shift to higher gears or even accelerate. The research highlighted six key focus areas for the financial services industry as shown in the infographic below.

An interesting as well as important observation of this study is the need for the financial services to focus on “Agility” to be “effective”. The financial services industry must drive increased agility in regulated environment into their operations to take advantage of the ongoing uncertainty in the market, rather than simply waiting for more stable conditions to emerge. The study also suggests that agility might be the most crucial traits in creating success in this highly uncertain and re-regulated world. To help understand the word “agility” better, the study says that it is the ability to rapidly and thoughtfully respond to changing conditions, moving seamlessly from one position to another. In order to achieve such agility in regulated environment, the financial services industry must consider building agility in three areas – strategy, ecosystem and minds.

As an example to building agility into strategy, the study provides example of responding to evolving product channels such as mobile payments by streamlining decision processes, adopting new technologies and partnering with non-traditional players.To building agility into the ecosystem, the study suggests the following: 1. Creating shared services for standardized yet expensive processes such as KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) compliance which may help in cost sharing of operations to provide limited competitive differentiation. 2. Rethinking size and services offered through the branch infrastructure, without jeopardizing customer experience or revenue growth, will further contribute to an agile ecosystem. On building agility in minds, the study suggests creating the right culture, along with incentives that support fast thinking and creative solutions. While the future is uncertain, building agile strategies, ecosystems, and minds will leave banks well-prepared for future challenges and opportunities. “Agility will allow banks to make quicker decisions, scale up and down more efficiently, and become better innovators – traits that will set banks apart from the pack,” says Rick Porter, partner Deloitte Australia, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. As a technology provider in the financial services sector, Cloud Lending Inc is excited to help the industry players in rethinking their strategy on “agility”. To know more, contact us: