The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the journey of investment banks’ technology transformation, but both consistent regulation and further investment are needed to ensure banks in Europe can deploy competitive technology.

The Technology and Innovation in Europe’s Capital Markets report surveyed the largest investment banks in Europe to assess their technological progress over the past two years. Findings reveal that banks have accelerated adoption of emerging technologies and new ways of working. However, insufficient IT investment, complex legacy systems and increasing regulatory requirements, remain some of the key barriers for further progress.

Among the key findings from the report:

• 50% of respondents believe that investment allocated to technology transformation is sufficient, up from 28% in 2018.
• 63% of investment banks are now implementing cloud computing, up from 33% in 2018.
• However, only 17% of respondents believe the benefits of new technologies are being realised across their organisation.
• 61% of investment banks see operational resilience as one of the top priorities for their technology transformation.
• 90% of respondents believe the COVID-19 pandemic will be a catalyst for future technology and operations change.