INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHTunderlying strength of the Australian
economy, which has increased the optimism
of consumers.
CFO OUTLOOK
In the latest edition of the ‘CFO Capital
Confidence Barometer’, which EY releases
every six months, 1,700 business executives
across eighteen industry sectors and
forty-five countries were surveyed. The
findings show that CFOs expect the global
economy and the M&A market to remain
stable over the next year, with 45 per cent
believing the global economy is stabilising
and 49 per cent stating they expect the
global M&A market to improve over the next
year. CFOs are focused on ways to confront
disruption instead. The two top sources of
disruption for the industry are identified as:
changing customer behaviour; and advances
in technology and digitisation.
PAYING FOR CRIME
Crime in the financial services industry has
increased, despite significant investment in
the area. The findings of PwC’s ‘Global
Economic Crime Survey’ suggest that the
industry needs a radical rethink of its
approach to crime prevention and protection.
The survey covers the financial services
sector as well as banking and capital markets
and insurance, and finds that 46 per cent of
respondents had been the victim of a crime
in the past twenty-four months. The financial
services sector largely invests in compliance
to try and beat economic crime and prove
positive intent to regulators; however, this
has not translated: cybercrime reports have
increased by 10 per cent.
THE GOLDEN YEARS
Over 400,000 Australians intend to retire in
the next twelve months, which will increase
the burden on government funding. The
report ‘State of the Nation — Spotlight on
Finance Risk’ by Roy Morgan Research
reveals that this is a 27-per-cent increase on
the levels seen in 2008. The magnitude of the
country’s ageing population is likely to
substantially increase the need for financial
support from the Australian government as
Norman Morris, Industry Communications
Director for Roy Morgan Research explains:
“The average level of savings and
superannuation for those intending to retire
is well below what is required to be able to
lead what ASFA describes as a ‘comfortable
lifestyle’ or with no reliance on the age
pension. The low levels of retirement savings
will put more pressure on government
funding for some time yet unless there are
changes to eligibility rules, taxation or
superannuation regulations.”“Blockchain technology is moving from
the margins of the finance industry to
the main stage, and will continue to help
build innovative solutions across the industry,
becoming ever more integrated into the
identity of financial services.”- Giancarlo Bruno, Head of Financial Services Industries,
World Economic Forum
Looks like the accounting
team has a new game plan!