Quantcast
Channel: The Punch - Nigeria's Most Widely Read Newspaper »» Business
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 13057

Tough challenges ahead for financial sector CEOs —Report

$
0
0

Chief executive officers in the financial services sector will face huge challenges as the financial services industry grapples with severe stress in the economy, changing regulation, technological developments, and pressure on reducing pay, a report by professional services firm, PwC, has shown.

PwC’s Financial Services Leader for Southern Africa and Africa, Tom Winterboer, said, “Leaders in the financial services sector are still facing some of the most challenging business conditions of their careers as profitable margins come under considerable pressure amidst the recent economic uncertainty and businesses struggle to come to terms with potentially disruptive changes in regulation and legislation.”

 According to PwC’s 16th Annual Global CEO Survey, Africa’s CEOs are contending with very similar issues as their global counterparts, with the majority viewing over-regulation and a lack of skills as barriers to business growth. The CEO survey is based on interviews with 349 CEOs in the financial services sector (149 from banking and capital markets in 49 countries; 92 from insurance in 39 countries; and 108 from asset management in 27 countries).

 A statement by PwC explained that the findings formed part of PwC’s newly released ‘African Financial Services Journal 2013’, which addresses strategic, operational and technical issues that can potentially affect the sector’s future performance.

It stated, “The journal also addresses, amongst other issues, the future of central banking in Africa and bank restructuring in Nigeria, the results of PwC Ghana’s 2012 Ghana Banking Survey, the changing tax landscape facing the financial services industry in South Africa, a proposed framework for the regulation of the South African hedge fund industry, the basis of the new Solvency Assessment and Management regime, how to leverage better IT processes in Tanzania, the role of a retirement fund trustee in managing the liabilities of a fund, and managing talent in the financial services sector.”

 A partner with PwC Nigeria and a contributor to the journal, Tony Oputa, said, “Across Africa there have been varied responses to the global financial crisis. In Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria scrapped the universal banking model prevalent across Africa and instituted a series of reforms that require financial institutions to specialise and manage capital risk in a prudent manner. It is important to consider the complexity of this process, especially under IFRS.”

 Despite the challenges, the journal, citing the PwC Global CEO survey, said CEOs in the banking and capital markets sectors remained positive about their growth prospects.

It said the findings of the CEO survey, showed that almost 90 per cent of the CEOs anticipate increased revenues in 2012 and over the next three years.

 “In the next 12 months, 78 per cent of banking capital market leaders anticipates expansion of their key operations in Latin America, 72 per cent in South-East Asia, and 88 per cent in Africa respectively. Furthermore, 90 per cent of banking and capital market CEOs are interacting more closely with customers,” it read in part.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 13057

Latest Images

Trending Articles



Latest Images