Adobe Enhanced Customer Interaction

Financial Services Trends in 2010: It's The Year of the Customer

January 21, 2010

During the first several weeks of a new year, "What's Hot" lists of all kind bombard us with predictions of what’s going to be hot in all areas from music and fashion to residential neighborhoods. What's top-of-mind for 2010 in the world of financial services? The customer, according to three new reports.

Posted by Peggy Bresnick Kendler

In the past year, many financial institutions were scurrying about, worrying about managing risk, containing costs, meeting regulatory compliance and, with the 100-plus bank failures in 2009, just staying alive. For some institutions, enhancing the customer's experience took a back seat to more immediately pressing issues. But no business will thrive without customers, no matter how well it manages its risk. And so, while the financial services industry takes a cautious deep breath, organizations are once again concentrating their efforts on their current and prospective customers.

In an IDC Financial Insights report, Worldwide Financial Services 2010 Top 10 Predictions: Where to Next?, David Potterton, vice president of Global Research says, "The focus in 2010 will be on restoring trust and confidence back to the financial sector. This means financial institutions will need to redefine their business models with an emphasis around the customer in order to get our industry back on track." Read more on the report here.

Celent's recent report, IT Spending in Financial Services: A Global Perspective, identified the top wholesale and retail banking trends for the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific. Trends in the U.S. include banks employing self-service as a way to please customers and cut costs, and next generation online banking solutions continue to be a hot topic. According to the Celent report, in Europe, bank IT trends include enriched customer services, and in Asia-Pacific retail and wholesale banking, trends include customer-centricity to support wealth management, as well as innovation and growth in remote channels. Read more on the Celent report here.

And in its recent Online Banking: Product Development Roadmap 2010 report, Aite Group says that banks are going to look more carefully at the online channel in the coming year.

"Despite the attention that the online channel has received and its promise to revolutionize traditional banking, many banks have never truly embraced it as a primary channel for customer interactions and transactions," says Ron Shevlin, senior analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. "The tide is finally turning. Read more on the Aite Group report here.

What’s your focus for 2010?