Financial Services Firms of the Future

According to an article (see here) by a PWC professional, successful financial services firms of the future will be characterized by a focus on customers and three broad traits:

• A focus on areas of competitive advantage
• Adaptation to forces of fragmentation
• Flexibility to exploit new opportunities

One of the themes of the article is a shift in focus to core competencies rather than an objective of ever increasing size.  This is consistent with a specialty, niche strategy that some small organizations in the insurance business have successfully executed.

A variety of key change drivers are also noted in the article, notably:

• Demographics
• Economic cycle
• Politics
• Regulation & reporting
• Technology

Size is still seen as a significant competitive advantage in the insurance business.  And there does not seem to be signs of change away from size as the primary objective among the large insurance organizations, but maybe that will come.