The Marketing Audit Collaborates with Deloitte on Thought Leadership White Paper
PHILADELPHIA, PA. August 6, 2009.

The Marketing Audit recently collaborated with Deloitte on a thought leadership white paper about the transformation of the global financial services industry.  To read the report (or an excerpt) click here:  “Thriving in a Changing Environment.”

 As the economic downturn, liquidity crisis, and related asset repricing continues to impact the global financial services industry, it is increasingly clear that these events will not only be prolonged – they will also leave the industry utterly transformed.

Created to support Deloitte’s annual Global Financial Services Industry (GFSI) Summit, this report identifies strategies and practices to help clients “thrive in this changing environment”.

The report is based on a survey of financial services executives from across the globe, and the viewpoints of Deloitte subject matter experts. Conducted at a time when the market is experiencing an unprecedented amount of change, the survey obtained client views on a variety of topics, including sources of capital and funding, new regulations and stakeholder priorities, the re-tooling of risk management and the future of innovation.  Other key points of note include:

• 72% of respondents indicated that they did not expect complex products to return to the market before 3 years, meaning that it is imperative that institutions develop replacement revenue sources that take into account the dramatically different economic landscape rather than simply waiting for complex products to regain favor and make a comeback.

• When asked which actions are the most important to an institution’s attempts to rebuild trust and brand image, “more transparency” ranked the highest.  Interestingly, the next most important action was to “simplify disclosures,” which outranked “more disclosures,” indicating that transparency around transparency is key to an institution’s success and reputation moving forward.

• Respondents saw government support in certain institutions as a short term advantage that quickly turns into a long term disadvantage due to conflicting stakeholder priorities and the effects on talent retention and entrepreneurial activities.  We are seeing the first signs of this as banks that took TARP money prioritize returning it to the government and debates about compensation continue.

• As institutions move towards a ‘back to basics’ approach to their services, respondents indicated that even while safe, conservative products have a shelf life and will eventually be combined with more flexible and complex product offerings, basic is not necessarily synonymous with simple.  Simplicity can be a form of innovation: making pared-down, devoid of bells and whistles, ‘vanilla’ products profitable and streamlining and increasing efficiency will require the talents of those who were previously innovating in other capacities.

For more information on how The Marketing Audit can help your company establish itself as a thought leader, call 215-545-6620 or E-mail info@marketingaudit.com