Bank Industry Insights: special edition

Business

For the third year in a row, our experts at Ashurst have come together to set out their top 10 priorities for Boards to consider in the year ahead. This year sees the "people" focus aspects of business, like cultural integration, psycho-social safety and executive remuneration make the list, as well as the usual suspects – AI, cyber preparedness, ESG reporting and greenwashing. If these are on your list and you're not sure where to start about addressing them, please do reach out to us and we can discuss how Ashurst can help.

Economy

The World Economic Forum asks what 2024 has in store for the economy? Leading chief economists expect the continued impact of political tensions on a global scale to create further geoeconomic fragmentations, causing volatility on global economic trends – and ultimately causing those lower income economies to suffer as a result. But according to the World Economic Forum’s January 2024 Chief Economists Outlook, an only marginally smaller group foresees a steadying or improving economic outlook. ?

Technology

Madhumita Murgia, technology journalist, gives her take to the FT on how AI will break through this year. She is expecting 2024 to be the year that AI really takes a hold – from generative AI for mobile devices, to autonomous AI capabilities, representing another big jump in tech use.

From a legal perspective, many are predicting that 2024 will be a roller-coaster of a year for technology, including our very own Ashurst Advance team who shared their predictions with Law.com. Tara Waters, Chief Digital Officer, is waiting to see if the hype of Generative AI settles and whether/how the legal market landscape changes in response. Coming to terms with new technology, in particular AI integration, will be central to strategic development as 2024 plays out.

Investment

Taking stock of forecasts around a slight decline in global growth, and the expectation that interest rates will reduce in the coming months, what this means for investors in 2024, is a difficult question to answer. This has led the Financial Times to ask whether equities will become the "go-to" thing for investors this year. Falling interest rates are generally good for shares (as long as they are not accompanied by a very deep recession). Similarly, government bonds should do reasonably well if inflation has peaked and central banks are able to cut interest rates – although the upcoming elections in the UK and US may cause some investors to hesitate.