Each year, CGI meets face-to-face with business and IT leaders to hear their perspectives on the trends affecting their organizations. In 2017, we conducted 200 in-person interviews with banking clients—including capital market, retail banking, and corporate and transaction banking organizations—to hear more about their top trends and priorities.

Top trends

Client insights from capital market executives indicate a concentration on reducing costs while using new technology to evolve processes, products and the customer experience. Top industry trends remain consistent with those identified in 2016, with cybersecurity, digital transformation, strict compliance requirements, and meeting customer expectations for digital experience services top of mind. One new trend gaining increased focus is the use of advanced analytics, automation and emerging technologies, reinforcing the role technology plays in responding to a fast-moving market.

Top 2017 trends in capital markets

Looking ahead, executives cite the following as top emerging trends: end-to-end requirement for automated, low cost and real-time platforms, widespread business model refocus on more profitable areas (such as equities) and increasing political and systemic risk.

Investing in innovation

Capital market executives we interviewed experience decreased IT maintenance budgets, down 3.1% in 2017, while investment budgets increased, up 3.6%. New investment weighted heavily toward IT modernization, with increased investment in advanced analytics, improved connectivity (electronic data interchange) and data fabrics. With cost control a primary budget goal, automation is viewed as a key tool for achieving this.

Focus area for capital market client innovation

Enterprise-wide change ranks as the number one business priority, as capital market executives seek to achieve the goals of cost reduction, improved regulatory compliance and improved agility to maintain and increase profitability. IT executives recognize that today’s new generation of technology can deliver significant improvements and shape customer expectations.

Discover the insight

Download additional trend information from the 2017 CGI Client Global Insights capital markets summary, and contact us for a copy of the full report and to arrange a personal discussion with a CGI capital markets expert for further analysis and insights.