Asian FSIs expect IT budgets to grow in 2015: IDC

• Financial sector reconciling 3rd Platform technologies with day-to-day operations
• Asian institutions now have the youngest core systems globally

TWO out of every five decision-makers in Asia’s financial institutions are expecting growth in IT budgets to exceed 10% in 2015 as the industry collectively renews its resolution to further digitise its practices, according to IDC Financial Insights.
 
In a survey conducted among 650 delegates of IDC Financial Insights’ 11th annual Asian Financial Services Congress, the C-suite of the Asia Pacific banking and insurance communities are found to be aligned in their opinion on technology investments for the fiscal year.
 
Only a third of those represented in the congress are expecting their technological budgets to stagnate or contract within the fiscal year.
 
These findings represent the collective views of 215 unique organisations in the region convening in Singapore for the two-day congress, IDC Financial Insights said in a statement.
 
The idea that Asian institutions now have the youngest core systems globally has been corroborated, it added, saying that 32% of delegates admitted to owning related IT assets which are less than seven years old.
 
The median age for European and North American core banking systems are 12 and 20 years respectively.
 
The bid for greater business agility is also apparent in other IT domains – three in every five institutions are found to be committing themselves to private, hybrid and public cloud investments for the upcoming year, breaking the years-long indecision that has permeated the industry.
 
“Combined with the solidification of the Asean Economic Community charter, greater affordability of IT in the enterprise and consumer space, as well as the rise of regulators as enablers rather than inhibitors of innovation, we believe the significant shifts in IT investment witnessed over the past years are a strong reflection of future trends, and ultimately, of our financial sector's growing maturity in reconciling Third Platform technologies with day-to-day operations,” said Sui-Jon Ho, market analyst at IDC Financial Insights.
 
“As many of our leading FSIs have demonstrated, the hallmark of a truly ‘innovative’ organisation does not lie in a complete departure from legacy systems or practices, but in renewing them through the right technological acquisition, thus creating new synergies which are still firmly anchored to the existing business.”
 
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