KEY CONCLUSIONS:
- Global banking has recovered from financial crises
“We are almost through the healing process after ten years of almost semi-permanent crisis. The financial sector is much stronger,” said Lionel Barber, Editor, The Financial Times.
- Russia’s socio-economic development strategy is about to bring positive changes
“Today, the president instructed to set up economic development programmes for the upcoming period <…> addressing issues on the economy, the legal system and the investment climate,” said Andrey Kostin, President, Chairman of the Management Board, Member of the Supervisory Council, Member of the Strategy and Corporate Governance Committee, VTB Bank.
CHALLENGES:
- Significant investment needed to introduce innovative technologies
“The lack of major investments, the failure to shift the banking business towards the customer needs, the absence of digital banking make the banks lag behind,” said Andrey Kostin.
- Increased cyber crime risks coming from new technologies
“<…> It is around all compliance issues, it is also going to be around data protection, because we are in the world where we innovate. We are able to use data, but at the same time, there is a requirement for more [cyber] security,” said Frederic Oudea, President, European Banking Federation; Chief Executive Officer, Société Générale.
- Tougher regulatory requirements
“We are much more worried about the regulatory issues <…> it will take us several years to digest today’s changes in the global regulatory field,” said Andrei Kostin.
“This rapid change will to some extent be hindered by regulators <…> They do not quite understand how to handle new technologies <…> That creates additional risks for national financial systems,” added Andrei Kostin.
- Brexit hampering the banking business
“As the European bank, we have ahead Brexit and its potential consequences, it is an important element,” said Frederic Oudea.
“What we are going to do with it? We will have to move some people. It will be bankers, traders, sales people, compliance lawyers,” said Daniel Pinto, Chief Executive Officer, Corporate and Investment Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Shadow banking
“We are looking at shadow banking in China, the debt is extraordinarily high, of course, savings are high too <...>. So far there has been no hard landing in China, the Chinese authorities have been very, very clear that they would do anything to avoid <...> but you still going to look at that,” said Lionel Barber.
- Low rates in the EU
“You know we suffer in Europe from very low rates and even negative rates, so with the macroeconomic environment it is going to take some time,” said Frederic Oudea.
SOLUTIONS:
- Extensive adoption and use of innovative IT solutions
“There is a massive need for using technologies not just for interacting with the customers but also to really ensure straightforward processes <...> you need digitalisation,” said Hans-Paul Buerkner, Chairman, The Boston Consulting Group.
“[There was a discussion about] blockchain [and they tried to understand what it means] to have maybe once a virtual digital currency for central banks,” said Philipp Roesler, Member of the Managing Board, World Economic Forum.
- Sanctions as an enabler of internal growth of the Russian banking system
“We took a serious look at ourselves and saw huge reserves, and the ways to increase our margins, first of all <...> we understood that we do have opportunities to earn more and to use the earnings to capitalise the bank,” said Andrey Kostin.
- Lower compliance costs
“[One of the potential advantages of modifying some of the regulations is] reducing the cost of compliance. Right now, there are some regulations in the US where we have to file reports with 3 or 4 different US regulatory agencies. If that could be streamlined so that we would have to do it only once, it would be very helpful,” said James С. Cowles, Chief Executive Officer Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Citigroup Inc.