Trends
Customer savings levels will continue to increase to levels not seen since the 1970′s .
Emerging Markets
This will clearly be the biggest area for growth opportunity. The GDP of emerging economies will be bigger than the G7 economies by the end of the decade with China surpassing the United States. Finding quality talent in emerging markets to support business operations both in the front office and I.T. will be challenging. Numerous Investment banks , Hedge funds and Asset managers will be competing for the same talent pool.
Threats
Over – regulation - Ceo’s of Investment banks see overregulation as the biggest threat to their business. Regulation will be costly and to much regulation will stunt innovation and shrink liquidity in the markets.
Governments will be looking to the private sector for providing capital and delivering services that will best support government initiatives. We are already seeing this trend in the U.K. Because of the past financial crisis banks might be required to buy debt of local companies to support their businesses.
Technology
This will be critical to the growth of Investment banks. Banks will need to cut costs be operationally efficient and be able to create central architectures that best align them to react to changing customer needs and opportunities. Banks will continue to consolidate and leverage their key competencies leaning on their core franchise strengths.