Authors: Rachel Hunt, Alex Kwiatkowski, Matthew Clay

Top 10 Predictions
January, 2012  -  Doc # FIBA01U
Number of Pages: 20
Number of Figures: 6

This IDC Financial Insights report presents our top 10 predictions for the EMEA financial services sector in 2012. 2011 was another difficult year for the region's institutions, and the green shoots of recovery were highly conspicuous by their absence.

The year ahead looks to be similarly stressful, with a multiplicity of problems likely to manifest themselves. Banks need to satisfy regulatory bodies that they are sufficiently well-capitalized to avoid posing a systemic risk to both the industry and wider economy; preserve an acceptable quality of customer service in an era when aging IT infrastructure is rapidly beginning to reach (or has reached) end-of-life; ensure they are not caught unawares by traditional and non-traditional competitors in the quest for differentiation; and demonstrate receptiveness to new approaches (such as increased use of cloud computing, mobility, and social) in order to keep pace with general lifestyle trends.

"IT spending will be sluggish at best, with a forecast growth of 3.8%, and banks will be challenged to balance business growth with capital optimization priorities," said Rachel Hunt, EMEA Banking research director at IDC Financial Insights. "However, there will be pockets of investment, in particular around analytics, cloud, and mobility."

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