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.

Featuring: Sean Cunniff, Research Director, Brokerage & Wealth Management

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

Investment advisors are the cornerstone of the financial services industry. Their fiduciary responsibilities have always been heavily regulated, but their credibility has been put into question by this economic downturn. Realizing the importance of sound and neutral advice, President Obama is proposing new regulations to strengthen fiduciary standards. Research Director Sean Cunniff of TowerGroup has been following the proposals closely and has just published a report titled “Fiduciary Is Not a Four-Letter Word, But It Sure Changes Things.” His focus is on the extension of fiduciary oversight to intermediaries.

Featuring: Kathleen Khirallah, Lead Analyst, Retail Banking

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

For the week starting July 6, 2009, TowerGroup View focuses on decision management in retail banks. The credit crisis is arguably the most prominent example of a failed decision making process, however, more relevant is the fact that retail banking customers feel frustrated with the level of service brought on by poor decision capabilities. Banks have identified the problems but need to focus on fixing them. TowerGroup's Kathleen Khirallah has been following the development very closely and has just published a report titled: Decision Management in Consumer Banking: Slowly Moving Toward an Integrated Supporting Framework. This succinct report outlines the current problems with decision tools and outlines what banks have to do to correct poor infrastructures.

Featuring: Bob McDowall, Research Director, Europe

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

Bob McDowall's research addresses the principal challenges and opportunities affecting the European banking, securities, and investment management markets. The market is poised for an evolutionary change on the back of regulatory proposals that stand to eliminate all secrecy from an industry built entirely on trust. As the economy continues its uncertain path and banks search for profitability, customers are questioning the need for their high priced advisors, as a result, banks are questioning the their models. This is the first in a series of podcasts dedicated to introduce the European wealth management market, a very mature market catering to the world’s high net worth individuals.

Featuring: Steven Murphy, Research Director, Wholesale Banking

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

Commercial cards have generally stayed under the radar throughout this period of economic turmoil, but as it turns out, not far from the minds of legislators. In a report titled “The Conyers and Durbin Credit Card Bills: What They Could Mean for Commercial Cards,” Steven Murphy outlines two proposed regulations that stand to radically change the commercial card market. Steven is a research director with TowerGroup’s Wholesale Banking practice concentrating on electronic payments and cards for the mid to large market segment. His report highlights the challenges of the commercial card market and outlines how the legislation, if passed, will change the market.