A Tale of Two Cities: London Finance Trends and Disruptions Revealed
Brought to the heart of The City last week to meet an outstanding lineup of senior bankers, fund executives, fintech entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and financial consultants – EDHEC Global MBA participants on their Finance Track business trip explored what is trending and disrupting in London finance.
On one side, The City appeared cautious and controlled:
- Compliance and regulatory specialists as well as public sector and financial services are now firmly seated on the driver’s side, as they grapple with reining in the big banks, rebuilding lost trust and reputation
- Brexit/Bremain was clearly the “one who shall not be named,” as the sector and the public brace for any scenario, banks and financial services are withholding comment in wait and see limbo
- Competition from private equity and funds to fintech, smaller, more agile and less regulated firms are taking the spotlight and wooing away banking talent
- Extremely low or even negative interest rates suggest a leap into the great unknown
- Continued layoffs in investment banking divisions were announced that week by three major banks in The City
On the brighter side, The City showed an optimistic, innovative and agile mindset far away from the weight of banking compliance and regulation
- Retail, digital and online banking are the rising stars as smart banks innovate to navigate artificial intelligence, blockchain, data science, digital identity, SaaS, cloud and open APIs.
- Fintech firms are blooming with the spring – making London Europe’s undisputed fintech hub; bubble or transformational change?
- Banks are learning from or teaming up with fintech and the giants of online retail and mobile technology
- VC/PE are riding the fintech wave of course, but not only that – returns, the rise of entrepreneurship across sectors and top talent moving in from banks all spell success
- Crowdfunding is growing up. Though still somewhat messy and unregulated, sophisticated platforms can now prove their relevancy
- Consulting and advisory are in full swing with record hiring and growing client books
As with the streets of London in a quagmire of roadworks, the financial sector may be putting up with current challenges to build a better, more fluid and more livable future which will allow The City to remain the world financial capital and talent magnet for a new generation of MBAs.
What have you learned about London finance lately? – join the conversation by commenting below.
Entrepreneur Strategy and Training
8 年Brava Sandra! You did a great job of laying out of what is really happening on a global scale - a rainbow colored village of inspirational Fintech people thriving in the shadows of the grey and cumbersome dinosaur Banks who can barely move anymore. Thanks so much for making more people aware of "Disruptive Technologies, like Block Chain in your post. As coincidence would have it, I just finished doing some consulting work for London based VC company investing in BLOCK CHAIN tech. Great group of guys with a Vision! This new technology will guarantee trust and transparency in all financial transactions. It will also open up commerce on a large scale to 3rd world nations who can't afford big bank fees. I don't think the banks truly understand the impact this will have on money as we know it. Financial governance going from a Centralized system to a Peer to Peer Decentralized one. I thought I died and went to heaven!! Thanks again Sandra and hope to see you soon!!