2015 Capital Markets Outlook

The Deloitte Center for Financial Services conducted an analysis of industry priorities and interviewed our leading capital markets practitioners to predict what’s coming in 2015. What did we find? Well, firms may be finally preparing for takeoff after a few turbulent years.

Capital markets firms are trying to move on from painful restructuring to a more sustainable and profitable future. In short, they are preparing for takeoff. But this does not mean that their flight path will be smooth. In this outlook, we highlight six areas that capital markets firms will likely have to prioritize in 2015.

See below for a high-level overview of the six trends and key priorities for capital markets:

·         Revenue streams: In a shifting environment dominated by tighter capital and liquidity constraints and the prospect of changing monetary policy, capital markets firms must be nimble.

·         Balance sheet efficiency: Firms should identify areas where they can retain a competitive advantage as they weigh tough balance sheet choices.

·         Regulation and transparency: Capital markets firms will be finalizing strategies and programs to respond to new regulations.

·         Risk management and risk culture: Top priorities in risk management will be aggregation of risk across the trade lifecycle, investment in analytics, and strengthening an ethical, risk-minded culture.

·         Technology and data: Firms should be redesigning their technology architecture by embracing modernization, simplification, and automation

·         Client value optimization: After years of trimming noncore business lines and geographic markets, firms’ efforts to prepare themselves for growth will take a hard look at client profitability.