Issue link: https://insights.oneneck.com/i/1505396
T H E F I N A N C I A L S E R V I C E S C I O O F 2 0 2 5 | 6 Expecting Greater Strategic Accountability Financial services CIOs already enjoy considerable responsibility and power. Seven in ten (76 percent) survey respondents are both key decision makers on corporate strategy, and report directly to the CEO. More than three-quarters (77 percent) also say they are the primary decision makers for corporate acquisitions, highly significant in today's heated market to acquire pre-IPO fintechs. Interestingly, CIOs in financial services expect their authority to increase even further. More than half (56 percent) believe they will head a profit center within 5 years. This makes sense in an industry encouraging its leaders to identify new business models—and revenue streams—to better serve customers, empower employees, and increase efficiencies in the back office. Financial services CIOs will be responsible for delivering new digital payment services, new types of financial instruments, mobile applications, and other digital processing innovations. Indeed, 59 percent of financial CIOs surveyed believe technology will drive "large" or "very large" changes in product development within their organizations. Big data and advanced analytics already impact operations—from preventing fraud to assessing risk when vetting potential customers to devising personalized offers. CIOs expect to have increasing influence in these areas. When it comes to sales and marketing, where data is now king, significant proportions of financial services CIOs say they will have stronger relationships with the executives leading those two important functions (64 percent and 55 percent, respectively). Compliance is an area financial services CIOs continuously monitor. In more than any other industry except perhaps healthcare, customer privacy is paramount. With established U.S. mandates such as the Bank Secrecy Act and the USA PATRIOT Act, and an ever-growing number of government regulations in the European Union and Asia- Pacific, financial services CIOs must be even more vigilant about customer data protection and privacy. Not surprisingly, six in ten (60 percent) financial services CIOs surveyed say they have prime responsibility for customer data, and approximately the same number (59 percent) expect to be even more deeply involved in and responsible for their organizations' compliance efforts over the next 5 years. Financial services CIOs who say they are the primary drivers of corporate innovation. 81% 79% "Business equals technology. My job is not just providing information technology but delivering on business outcomes and customer satisfaction." DAVID GLEDHILL, CIO AND GROUP HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY AND OPERATIONS, DBS BANK, SINGAPORE