(12 October 2018 – Global) What are East & Partners analysts focusing on across offices in Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong and London in Q4 2018 as the calendar year hurtles towards another close?
Following the Q3 analyst meeting update, East’s latest fortnightly analyst meetings centred upon the tenuous link between three key stakeholders in financial markets, specifically:
What issues are getting corporates out of bed? What messages are not getting through to financial services providers across transaction banking, credit, FX, payments and service?
How does that compare to what banks and non-banks are pivoting towards? Are their resources being deployed to the most pressing customer ‘pain points’?
Where does media coverage focus it’s attention? Which voice is being broadcasted the most prominently?
Unsurprisingly these highly interconnected players core motivations dictate the issues and events that are firmly ‘front of mind’, highlighting the importance of ‘voice of the customer’ analytics more than ever. Upcoming regional insights reporting and thought leadership releases will continue to reveal valuable demand side insights into pressing themes including trade protectionism, trade credit insurance, regional capital flows and RMB internationalisation in the wake of Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) investment and importantly trust, bank reputation and customer’s preparedness to advocate. Monitoring and measuring customer sentiment is an integral part of bank’s product and service performance management, and an emerging theme captured as part of new analytics generated by East & Partners multiclient reporting is a notable disparity between broad group-wide sentiment versus individual product/divisional experiences. East’s proprietary research provides a deeper level of insight into the complex relationship between CFOs and corporate treasurers and their bank as expectations continue to rise, often interestingly led by unusual sources such as their own personal retail banking experience or emerging innovation making waves in other industries.
ESG market development continues to emerge as a pressing area of client interest, highlighted by HSBC’s recent research release and East & Partners Asia upcoming Research Note topic. Corporates and financiers are quickly accepting the realisation that the cost of not scaling up capability and coverage for green financing and sustainable finance is building quickly, particularly across equipment finance markets and board management. Under Australian corporate governance laws, company directors can be held liable for failing to manage risks associated with climate change, according to a legal analysis paper by the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI). East & Partners weekly banking news update will provide further research based insights into upcoming trade finance, global business FX and ESG market developments, linking the voices of client banks and key corporate decision makers.