Featuring: Bob McDowall, Research Director, Europe

Moderator: Ralph Silva, Research Director, European Banking & Payments

In this third and final podcast on the subject of wealth management, TowerGroup analyst Bob McDowall focuses on the plight of private banking under the umbrella of wealth management in a period of capital limitations and lack of technical innovation. Private banking customers are now demanding an integrated multichannel approach, an approach that will require innovation and investment. Bob talks about how the vendor community will fulfill the needs of an industry that despite all the problems continues to see technology as a critical component to continued success.

Featuring: Ralph Silva, Research Director, European Banking & Payments

The Sibos 2009 annual conference was held in Hong Kong earlier this month to discuss the issues affecting the wholesale and transaction banking community and this year TowerGroup played a major role. With close to 7,000 attendees, the event was not likely going to result in consensus, but in this period of turmoil there was much common ground to build on. TowerGroup was invited to moderate several key debates as well as produce the closing summary, which necessitated our participation in all the key debates at the event. TowerGroup has produced a series of five podcasts covering the principle debates of the event.

In this podcast we focus on a core component of all Sibos conferences: innovation. This year Sibos was not about specific solutions, but about the process of innovation.

Featuring: Karen Pauli, Research Director, TowerGroup

Moderator: Ralph Silva, Research Director, European Banking & Payments

Islamic banking products have never been far from the minds of banking strategists. With the opportunity to tap into a growing US domestic market as well as building access to billions of potential customers, Islamic financial services products stand to become a major revenue stream. In this podcast, we focus on the insurance market, specifically Takaful insurance products that subscribe to Islamic principles. TowerGroup analyst, Karen Pauli, has just published a report entitled “Takaful: Global Opportunities in Islamic Insurance for Carriers” and she joins us to take us through her findings.

Featuring: Andy Schmidt, Research Director, Global Payments

Moderator: Ralph Silva, Research Director, European Banking & Payments

The Sibos 2009 annual conference was held in Hong Kong earlier this month to discuss the issues affecting the wholesale and transaction banking community and this year TowerGroup played a major role. With close to 7,000 attendees, the event was not likely going to result in consensus, but in this period of turmoil there was much common ground to build on. TowerGroup was invited to moderate several key debates as well as produce the closing summary, which necessitated our participation in all the key debates at the event. TowerGroup has produced a series of five podcasts covering the principle debates of the event.

In this third podcast, we talk to Andy Schmidt about his key findings throughout the conference. Andy Schmidt is a Research Director in TowerGroup’s Global Payments service and attended most of the big issue debates as well as a series of vendor meetings throughout the conference. Andy discusses his impression gained at Sibos of the overall market, prospects for vendors, and the future of innovation for the industry.

Featuring: Dushyant Shahrawat, CFA, Senior Research Director, Securities & Investments

Moderator: Ralph Silva, Research Director, European Banking & Payments

The Sibos 2009 annual conference was held in Hong Kong earlier this month to discuss the issues affecting the wholesale and transaction banking community and this year TowerGroup played a major role. With close to 7,000 attendees, the event was not likely going to result in consensus, but in this period of turmoil there was much common ground to build on. TowerGroup was invited to moderate several key debates as well as produce the closing summary, which necessitated our participation in all the key debates at the event. TowerGroup has produced a series of five podcasts covering the principle debates of the event.

This podcast focuses on prime brokerage and the changes that resulted in the demise of Lehman Brothers. Dushyant Shahrawat, Senior Research Director in TowerGroup’s Securities & Investments practice, moderated a panel that included John Callegari of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Juan Carlos Nieto of Index Intelligence, Kim Ivey of Vertex Capital Management, and Dinkar Jetley of Deutsche Bank. Dushyant talks about the changes traditional customers of prime brokers are experiencing and discusses opportunities for the vendor community.

Featuring: Bob McDowall, Research Director, Europe

Moderator: Ralph Silva, Research Director, European Banking & Payments

Earnings season has come and gone, but what has it told us about the status of banks? This TowerGroup View podcast covers the lessons learned from the published earnings for the European Tier 1 banks. Retail banking firms are under intense pressure and as a result, IT funding is becoming a priority. European banks are focused on short-term tactical initiatives, mostly around maintenance and replacement solutions, but some banks are being more creative. After a five year hiatus, we are once again talking about shared services with some European banks leading the way back. Although recovery is still embryonic, it does appear that European banks are more willing to explore IT solutions as a method of improving customer service and manage risk, beyond that, it’s still too early for strategic thought to dominate.

Featuring: Bob McDowall, Research Director, Europe

Moderator: Ralph Silva, Research Director, European Banking & Payments

Wealth management continues to have problems with trust as clients question the credibility of banks. TowerGroup’s Bob McDowall joins us this week to continue his three part series on wealth managers. In this second installment, Bob focuses on the relationship between wealth management and the advisors, both independent and associated. Bob also discusses how technology can help improve the service levels that wealth managers provide to their customers. He believes that clients should go directly to the wealth managers and if this is to happen, wealth managers will have to bulk up their infrastructures.

Featuring: Brian Riley, Research Director, Bank Cards

Moderator: Ralph Silva, Research Director, European Banking & Payments

Visa International recently invested in mobile payment technology provider Monitise plc. Although the minority investment is of note, TowerGroup believes it is not unique and will not change the marketplace. Monitise will compete in a space with well-funded companies such as Qualcomm's Firethorn and providers such as ClairMail, mFoundry, Vivotech, and Obopay, which maintain alliances, ventures, and investments with competing networks American Express, China Union Pay, Discover Network, JCB Card, MasterCard Worldwide, and leading card-issuing banks. In this week’s TowerGroup View, Brian Riley provides insight on the impact of this investment and how it relates to the payments industry, the acquired company, and the mobile payments industry.

Featuring: Peter Delano, Research Operations Director, Securities & Investments and Insurance

Moderator: Ralph Silva, Research Director, European Banking & Payments

A few years ago, IT departments responsible for securities and investment operations were spending as if they had access to blank checks. Those days are over, and cost pressures have jumped to the IT department, resulting in difficult compromises. Recent TowerGroup research explored the extent of the cutbacks. The findings are published in a report titled, “North American Securities and Investment Firms’ IT spending: Tightening the Tourniquet as Wounds Heal.”

Across-the-board cuts are the norm, but the cuts are not consistent throughout the IT supply chain. Internal IT expenditures have been curtailed the most, while spending on third-party services and outsourcing has dropped only moderately. The news is not all bad: Not surprisingly, risk management and regulations are in fact driving a slight increase in spending. Europe is in line with the United States in spending cuts, but Asia has not yet experienced significant cutbacks. Peter Delano joins us to talk about the trends and highlight what vendors need to do to keep orders flowing in.

Featuring: Bob McDowall, Research Director, Europe

Moderator: Ralph Silva, Research Director, European Banking & Payments

Risk management has always represented a significant portion of IT budgets, but apparently those expenditures were ineffective. The lack of suitable risk management capabilities have been blamed for the current economic predicament. Banks have been trying to address the problem, increasing expenditures on risk infrastructures by 5.8% year over year since 2006, but TowerGroup believes this is only the start. Bob McDowall, Guillermo Kopp, and Rod Nelsestuen have just completed their spending predictions for risk-related IT infrastructures and published their finding in a report titled “Global IT Spending Forecast for Risk Management: A Growth Opportunity for Business and Technology.” Bob takes us through their findings, highlighting the inevitable increase in spending levels, the diversity that we see through the G-20 nations and the reliance on governance and compliance models.