BFSI Research Archives - Everest Group

Is COVID-19 Accelerating Responsible Investing in the Financial Services Sector? | Blog

May 15, 2020

Climate risk discussions and regulations had been gaining great momentum in the past six months as there had been increasing pushes from regulatory bodies and central banks to start stress testing climate risk scenarios. While the discussions have been somewhat back-burnered due to the pandemic, they will begin again in earnest during the post COVID-19 recovery period. And they will jump to the top of financial institutions’ (FIs) risk management agendas, instead of continuing to be considered a CSR activity.

Why COVID-19 will accelerate ESG reporting

Given the erosion in investment value across asset classes over the last couple of months, investors are looking to get better returns, and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) funds have performed better. Indeed, a Morningstar analysis of 206 responsible investing funds found that 70% of these equity funds outperformed their peers in Q1 2020. As the social component of ESG brings to focus companies’ relationships with their employees and customers, the governance aspect will also gain attention. Dedicated risk committees and boards of directors will set the tone for firms’ communication and branding strategies.

Another driving force will be the rising influence of millennial investors. As they move toward more socially responsible investing, firms that achieve high ESG scores will be the preferred choice for these investors. FIs won’t want to miss out on this growing segment and will look to align their portfolios accordingly to be an attractive investment opportunity. This change will spur the ESG reporting initiatives at these institutions and lead to evolution of the industry ecosystem as well.

Evolution of the industry ecosystem

FIs have ramped up hiring as they build their sustainability teams and task forces. Credit rating agencies and data firms like Moody’s and S&P have started to acquire climate risk analytics firms to enhance their coverage of ESG data reporting. Stock exchanges around the world are launching multiple ESG indices to measure listed companies’ commitment to ESG. Asset management firms are gradually incorporating ESG factors into their investment strategies while announcing divestment from industries that are considered problematic from an ESG reporting perspective. We are also seeing an uptick in the demand for sustainability consultants at financial services firms, with more than 15% year-on-year growth as demonstrated by job postings for sustainability roles in the financial services industry.

Current challenges for financial institutions

No clear framework has yet been institutionalized for FIs to start reporting their climate disclosures. Only broad frameworks exist that can serve as a baseline for them to start initiating stress tests and checking their exposures. Further, they face two major problems with consolidating and analyzing the right data sets. One is identifying the right data sources and the kind of data needed for analysis. The other is defining the methodology they should use to analyze these data sets. FIs’ existing analysis models and scenarios have been built with a timeline of five to 10 years. But incorporating climate risk into them requires scenario planning that looks 15 to 25 years into the future and into past data records as well.

So, what are the implications for FIs as climate talks and green investing discussions gain momentum?

Uptick in demand for data science teams and AI/machine learning themes FIs will need to set up extensive data warehouses and data lakes to analyze large and complex data sets to make efficient decisions. AI and machine learning themes will help in identifying correlations and anomalies in the comprehensive company data. There will be a rise in demand for AI programs and NLP algorithms that can help in assessing these data points.

Talent conundrum for executing sustainability initiatives In addition to the technology talent needed to tap into the data sets, there will be demand for sustainability consultants, ESG portfolio managers, and analysts who can act on the data insights. FIs will need to tap young talent from premier institutions and grow in-house talent to scale the talent landscape for sustainability initiatives.

Incorporate ESG data from partners into risk management FIs will have to embed ESG analysis into various facets of risk management like credit risk calculations and use it to identify and quantify the impact of emerging risks. The need for comprehensive climate risk data is fueling the emergence of ESG ratings data by start-ups and credit ratings firms like S&P. Partnering with one of these vendors will provide access to these scores that FIs can incorporate in the broader analysis.

Investments in communication and branding initiatives Given the rise of millennial investors who prefer to align their investments with their values, FIs will need to substantially invest in building a socially responsible brand to bring forth the right narrative. Thus, FIs will need to review their portfolios to align with ESG values and bring in the right industry leaders to drive the sustainability agenda.

Increased interest in service providers’ carbon footprints Increasing pressure on FIs for responsible and green investing will soon start to impact their sourcing decisions. Outsourcing and vendor management teams should start to assess their vendor portfolios on sustainability considerations like green procurement policy, waste management, carbon management, etc.

Everest Group’s take

Purpose-built platforms that are digital and cloud-ready for FIs to cost effectively scale their ESG strategies are currently in their nascent stages. There’s an urgent need to fill this gap.

There’s no single source of truth for the ESG data and the methodology to analyze it. FIs are unsure which data scores to utilize in their analysis and are increasingly setting up in-house ESG platforms to analyze ESG data and manage the end-to-end product value chain. This is a greenfield opportunity for vendors to gain first-mover advantage in this dynamic scenario and onboard FIs onto their platforms.

The current health crisis has only reinforced the need for sustainable investing, and governments have mobilized efforts to stress test their financial services sectors. As supply chains across the world are disrupted, investors are looking for safe havens in the form of companies that can weather such crises. FIs need to act fast to capture market share from the new generation of investors and tap into returns from ESG funds or risk being disintermediated in the long run.

What’s your take? What technology and data analytics challenges have you faced in your ESG journey? Please write to us at [email protected] or [email protected] to share your experiences, questions, and comments.

How COVID-19 Will Impact IT Services in the Banking and Financial Services (BFS) Industry | Blog

April 28, 2020

The BFS industry started 2020 in a cautiously optimistic mood, hoping for a rebound in global economic growth. But then the COVID-19 outbreak swept the world into a state of emergency. The current challenge is far greater for BFS firms than was the Great Recession, as they need to crack the code of how to deal swiftly with both demand- and supply-side shocks. In this scenario, banks face a dual mandate of:

Playing a central role in stabilizing the economy
Ensuring business continuity to maintain normal operations

Breaking down the impact of COVID-19 on the BFS IT services market

To illustrate the variation in pandemic impact across different BFS lines of business (LoBs), we analyzed the severity of impact and speed of recovery for each line. Our assessment of severity of impact involved modeling factors such as the COVID-19 revenue and profitability impact from both a near-term (3-6 months) and a medium-term (6-12 months) perspective. We gave more weight to the medium-term impact as the near-term uncertainty makes the modeling of impact very difficult.

And we mapped impact severity against the speed of recovery by gauging the time it will take for these LoBs to bounce back to the pre-crisis state; this is a function of the health of these business segments before the crisis, as well as expected changes in customer sentiment and buying behavior once the crisis is over.

Our analysis found that BFS LoBs cluster in four zones, each of which exhibits unique characteristics and will face a distinct set of technology and IT services implications. Taking it counterclockwise from the bottom right quadrant:

Aggressive cost take out – Lying on the bottom right, the LoBs in this zone will face the highest degree of impact; we also expect their pace of recovery to be painfully slow. To aid in their recovery, these LoBs should rethink their operating models and get back to basic principles: focus on the core business of provisioning financial services, think of delivering more value to customers, and move away from non-core elements like engineering or IT services innovation.We expect to see heightened asset-heavy deal activity in this segment, as these LoBs will need cash to invest and rejuvenate growth in select focus segments. And they’ll be looking for financial engineering support through activities such as takeover of legacy assets, shared services carve-outs, and even signing of long-term integrated technology plus operations support engagements that are centered around specific business outcomes.
Modernization –This zone at the top right comprises LoBs that we expect to rebound faster to pre-crisis growth levels. From an IT services standpoint, we expect these LoBs to focus on cost savings in the near-term by seeking price cuts on rate cards and pausing some change initiatives. However, soon enough, these segments will get back to modernization initiatives. Hybrid cloud will play a critical role, as these LoBs will place significant emphasis on digital enablement to fuel their long-term growth.
Growth – Odd as this may sound, we expect these business segments to benefit from the crisis in the near term. For example, as governments across multiple geographies have announced relief packages for small businesses that are facing unprecedented economic disruption, banks are needed to facilitate these SBA loans. Financial services firms that have proactively invested in creating a scalable infrastructure and stronger business continuity plans are better positioned to take advantage of this opportunity by generating significant fee income. Enterprises with large LoBs in this zone will also be on the lookout for inorganic expansion and take advantage of the reduced evaluations. Enhancing customer experience, driving product innovation, and improving agility to quickly respond to market demands will be the key investment themes.
Transformation – This zone comprises LoBs that will recover most slowly from this crisis. Hence, these business segments need to rethink their business models and diversify their revenue mix to sustain themselves in the long term. For instance, retail/consumer transaction banking will face profitability challenges due to reliance on interest-based income, and some of the fee-based commoditized businesses, like retail wealth management, have been under stress due to downward fee pressures. As a result, enterprises with large LoBs in this zone will look to transform themselves and invest from a long-term growth perspective.

Implications for BFS enterprises

At an industry level, we expect BFS firms to completely focus on running the business initiatives in the near term. Our research suggests that banks have put nearly 60 percent of change projects on hold. Most of these suspensions are temporary and will restart once the crisis abates; however, we believe that the prioritization and nature of these change projects will mutate due to a shift in business priorities and budgets.

As an immediate response to the current situation, designing and executing customer assistance programs should be the top priority for BFS firms. In the medium term, the firms’ focus should gradually shift to modernization of legacy systems that slowed down banks’ agility and ability to respond to this crisis. Post COVID-19, BFS firms will need to reimagine their products, pricing, and channel strategies to fulfill evolved customers’ expectations.

Our recommendation for BFS enterprises is to cautiously evaluate their exposure across each of their LoBs and carve out a holistic IT strategy that takes into account not only the near-term implications, but also their long-term business philosophy.

Please share your views on the impact of COVID-19 on the BFS industry segments with us at [email protected] and [email protected].

What Analytics Hot Spot Is Right For Your BFSI Business? | Blog

July 4, 2019

Enterprises that operate in the BFSI industry are the biggest consumers of analytics services. They realized earlier than companies in other sectors how powerful analytics can be in offering targeted and customer-centric solutions, exploiting the massive amount of available data, meeting dynamic customer demands with their expectation for real-time solutions, and helping them adapt to changing business environments.

There are four different regions around the world that provide analytics services to BFSI companies: India, Asia-Pacific (APAC,) nearshore Europe, and Latin America. Each has its own unique capabilities, characteristics, and value proposition.

To help BFSI firms select the right delivery location for their specific needs, we recently completed a “Locations Insider Report” named Global Hotspots – Analytics in BFSI.

Following is a look at the findings. To add context to them, we classify analytics solutions into four types based on their sophistication and business impact, as you see here.

India

India is the leading delivery destination for analytics services in the BFSI industry. It has a large talent pool (more than 65 percent of the global sourcing FTEs in nearshore/offshore locations,) and offers high cost arbitrage. Because of these factors, a large number of BFSI companies have chosen to set up analytics Centers of Excellence (CoE) in key tier-1 locations such as Bangalore, Delhi NCR, and Mumbai. While both tier-1 and tier-2 locations support traditional analytics services delivery, and largely support customer, fraud, and finance risk analytics functions, advanced analytics services delivery is concentrated in tier-1 cities.

India is also seeing an uptick in start-up activity in analytics services delivery across multiple functions including customer, credit, fraud, and risk. Because these service provider start-ups can provide accelerated access to skilled resources either through partnerships or acquisitions, BFSI companies may want to factor this into their location selection strategy. In the PEAK Matrix evaluation included in our report, Bengaluru and Delhi emerged as “Leaders” because of their high cost arbitrage and significant talent availability. We identified Mumbai as a “Major Contender” due to its healthy mix of cost arbitrage and talent availability, and high maturity in traditional analytics services delivery.

APAC (excluding India)

Manila and Shanghai are the top locations in the APAC region. While services delivery is dominated by service providers offering traditional analytics services, a few locations also have a sizable shared services – or global in-house center – presence. The geography primarily supports finance and fraud risk management functions, and some companies are setting up analytics CoEs.

Nearshore Europe

In nearshore Europe, the top analytics services delivery locations are Budapest, Edinburgh, Prague, and Warsaw. While companies leverage the geography for both traditional and advanced analytics, advanced analytics services delivery for fraud and finance risk management is gaining traction, primarily due to region’s availability of high-quality talent and the ability to support work in many European languages. Certain nearshore locations, such as Belfast and Edinburgh, support high-end predictive and prescriptive analytics, not only because a highly qualified workforce is available, but also because of the need for advanced processes to be in proximity with business customers. Just like India, Poland is experiencing an uptick in start-up analytics service providers.

Latin America

Latin America is an emerging destination for analytics services. One of its key advantages is its ability to provide real-time monitoring and data analysis to the North American market due to its similar time zone. BFSI companies primarily leverage key locations in the region, such as Mexico City and Sao Paulo, for traditional analytics services across risk management functions such as credit and fraud.

Because of all that’s at stake, BFSI companies need to carefully evaluate locations for analytics services delivery against their specific business requirements. To learn more about the global analytics services landscape – availability of both entry-level and employed talent pool, market maturity, cost of operations across top locations, and implications for stakeholders including service providers, GICs, BFSI companies, country associations, and industry bodies – please read our recently released report, “Global Hotspots – Analytics in BFSI.”

Announcing our inaugural conference: Everest Group Engage, The Pragmatic Edge: Designing Your Future. Learn more.

Tag: BFSI research