The Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA) and PwC have today published a new report on current trends in technology and innovation and their impact on the investment bank of the future.

The report, entitled ‘Technology and Innovation in Global Capital Markets’, examines the key trends which are expected to impact the industry over the next five years, providing a vision for the future and identifying the implications for the industry and for future policymaking.

This report builds on the AFME report published in 2018, to now include perspectives from the US and Asia.

Among the key findings from the report are:

• Technology is one of the most powerful levers banks have to address potential disruption, tackle existing industry challenges and deliver future opportunities.
• While an average of 90% of survey respondents (US 90%, Asia 83%, Europe 95%) identified the opportunity for cost reduction as the most important driver for the adoption of new technologies, only 27% on average (US 27%, Asia 30%, Europe 25%) felt that the current investment allocated by banks to this strategic change was sufficient.
• There are four core technologies - Data & Analytics, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) – which have the potential to transform banks and the industry.

The Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA) brings together three of the world’s leading financial trade associations, The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), the Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA).