The future of financial services according to IBM

Surveys serve as a legitimate marketing exercise at most companies. So what to make of the massive IBM survey of 2,754 people in the industry, 1,678 of whom were executives and public officials? It must sense a huge marketing opportunity in all the turmoil. Indeed, the results of "Toward Transparency and Sustainability--Building a New Financial Order" suggests a new industry in the making. The new industry appears to be less profitable, more low-margin transaction-driven and essentially more dynamic and customizable. "In the future, firms will need 'smarter' systems that can continuously assess their risks and returns across each line of business and adjust their business mix accordingly." The study predicts three areas of specialization that will emerge:

• Beta transactors: A concentration on utility services (trading, asset management, etc.) that provide the infrastructure to facilitate market-making "in the same way that water companies provide the reservoirs, purification processes and pipes required to deliver clean water."
• Advisors: Fewer firms will focus on advice, wealth management or deal advisory or other.
• Alpha seekers: A few buyside firms, none of which are 'too large to fail', will focus on high returns.  

For more:
- here's the survey
- here's the release