Top 5 banking & financial services trends that

With 4 months left till the end of 2021, let’s look at the current state of the Hong Kong market and its outlook for 2022. In 2021, we’ve seen the market start to recover and rebound from the impact of the pandemic.

How are the banking and financial services industries shaping up? What are the latest trends that are making waves in the industries? Read on to find out more about the top 5 trends that will continue into 2022 in this blog by our Director of Banking & Financial Services, Rhoda Rivera.

1. Digital Transformation

In 2017, I wrote an article about digitization within the banking industry on cpjobs and how constant changes in market demand have been changing customers’ digital journeys. Fast forward over 4 years later, with new regulations, evolving fintech market, established virtual banks, and more sophisticated customer behaviours and investments, financial institutions have and will continue to transform their businesses digitally including core systems, operational processes, as well as client interactions.

2. Regulatory Change Management

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been delays on regulatory agenda for the banking and financial services industry as institutions focused on business continuity as top of mind for their priorities in 2020. Now, as more businesses have more reliable remote working processes and infrastructure in place, there’s renewed attention on implementation efforts for regulatory changes including IBOR/LIBOR, IFRS 17 and 9, Prudential Risk, AML, and ESG, to name a few, and we see efforts continuing onto next year.

3. Greater Bay Area (GBA)

For the past 2-3 years, we have seen increasing demand for Greater Bay Area and cross-border experience when hiring for our key clients and this will continue to be the trend in 2022. With the recent launch of GBA Wealth Connect Scheme and announcements of thousands of jobs opening for graduates in Hong Kong and Macau to support the growth of GBA, the imminent outlook for the future of this special zone will continue to be positive.

4. Data Governance

With a competitive landscape in Asia, as well as the move to digital customer journeys and processes, data governance will continue to evolve to ensure compliance, security, and control of how information is managed in the banking and financial services industries, creating peace of mind for end-users globally.

5. Social & Wellbeing Initiatives

Diversity and inclusion (D&I), mental health programmes, flexible working arrangements, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are amongst key, non-financial related agendas we have seen quickly evolve in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Decision makers are encouraged to find ways to ensure the wellbeing of their workforce including equal opportunities for all, access to remote/virtual working practices, and an emphasis on mental health.