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• Published on 14 June 2019
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FIS research reveals a slowdown in use of emerging technologies in APAC, despite their role in accelerating growth

New research released today from financial services technology leader FIS has found that confidence amongst financial services firms based in APAC has grown for the second year in a row.  However, the research has also revealed mixed progress towards making the transformation of technology and operations needed to catch up with the growth demonstrated by global leaders.

Key findings from the research include:

• 73% of the firms surveyed said they were confident in meeting their growth objectives, compared to 66% in 2018 and 41% in 2017.  Firms in this region are more confident than their counterparts in North America (68%) and Europe (70%)

• However, only 47% say that their technology capability is sufficient to support their growth plans, well behind the 71% of firms globally that the FIS research identified as Readiness Leaders

• Fewer firms in APAC have or are moving mission-critical applications to the cloud, with just 26% in the region compared to 48% of Readiness Leaders globally. However, a further 22% are in the planning process and another 47% are assessing the feasibility of such a move.

• Progress in adopting other advanced technologies in APAC appears to be slowing, even though these emerging technologies are accelerating growth for firms that adopt them
  • 21% of firms are testing or live with blockchain solutions, compared to 60% of global leaders, and down from 33% in 2018
  • Only 16% are testing or implementing Artificial Intelligence solutions, compared to 51% of global leaders, and down from 29% in 2018

With global leaders growing at an average rate of 3.3% and APAC firms at 1.43%, the FIS research strongly suggests that embracing emerging technologies is central to achieving growth.

Sanjay Varma, Group Managing Director for APAC, Middle East and Africa at FIS, said: “Though confidence is high amongst financial services firms in APAC, our research suggests this may need to be backed up with urgent action and a faster pace of transformation.  The firms we have identified as global leaders are outpacing their counterparts in Asia in the technology transformation that is defining the future of financial services, and their revenues are growing over twice as fast as a result. Firms in this region need to embrace emerging technologies to catch up.”