Waves of Disruption

In this point of view, we outline how in the next five years financial services will not just change but be dramatically disrupted by technology driven innovation. 

For Ireland, which has become a well-established international financial services centre, the change will be significant and will impact employment and the nature of work profoundly.

Significant technological forces will disrupt the IFS landscape.

Examples include the digitisation of core activities in certain sub-sectors, machine learning and artificial intelligence which will lead to the robotisation of work, and blockchain technology which will fundamentally challenge traditional technology platforms.

The rate of disruption will increase, given that technological advancements will continue at pace, while also becoming more affordable. As a result, premium financial services will be made accessible to a greater portion of the population, while at the same time opening up the industry to new players.

On the back of the disruptive forces identified, we have made some predictions for the broader financial services industry:

• Significant disruption will occur in retail banking, fund management, payments, and insurance
• Growth will occur in payments, RegTech, cyber and aircraft leasing
• Corporation tax will not be a key driver of innovation
• The regulatory environment will struggle to keep pace with the rate of innovation
• The number of back-office roles in Ireland will reduce
• New business models will create new opportunities for Ireland 

Download the ''Waves of distribution: The future of Ireland's Financial Services Sector'' report.