Out-Law News 2 min. read

UK bank chief executives' priorities differ from those of chief executives elsewhere, says survey


The priorities and expectations of UK banks' chief executives "differ markedly" from those of chief executives operating in other business sectors and elsewhere in the world, according to new research by PwC.

In particular, business leaders at banks and capital markets firms were more concerned about cyber security threats and less likely to predict an increase in recruitment in their businesses this year, according to the professional services firm's annual 'Global CEO Survey' for 2015.

The findings showed that UK banking leaders were "not only taking the threats stemming from economic pressures, regulation and reputational risk management seriously – but that newer risks, for example cyber, are very much on their radar", Simon Hunt, a UK banking and capital markets expert at PwC, said.

"The views also reflect the significant cost pressures many of these institutions are currently feeling," he said.

PwC interviewed 1,409 chief executives operating in 83 different countries as part of its research for the report, which is now in its 19th year.

According to the report, two thirds of UK business leaders plan to increase the number of staff working at their organisation in 2016 - a higher proportion than their peers in any other European country and in most markets worldwide, and considerably higher than the global average of 48%. However, only 43% of UK banking chief executives forecast an increase in recruitment, while 29% said that they expected headcount to decrease during 2016 - more than the 21% global average.

Responses from UK banking chief executives were more aligned with the global average on the threat to their businesses from bribery and corruption, which was highlighted by 27% of UK banking respondents and 24% of respondents overall. However, only 7% of UK chief executives from every business sector reported major concerns about bribery and corruption. Almost four in 10, or 36%, of UK banking chief executives said that they were particularly concerned about cyber threats - above 28% of UK chief executives in general and 21% of the global response.

Cyber security expert Ian Birdsey of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that it was not surprising that banking sector respondents were more aware of the risks of cyber crime to their businesses than those working in other fields.

"Financial data is a prime target for cyber criminals which makes banks a valuable target - notwithstanding significant investment by banks in IT security to reduce the likelihood of data breaches," he said. "At the same time, banks are acutely aware of the corporate reputation issues that can arise out of data breaches and IT outages: banks have been subject to adverse press coverage on this in the past."

A new ThreatMetrix report on cyber crime, published earlier this month, found that banks increasingly had to respond to cyber attacks across a broad range of distribution channels. There were more than 100 million cyber attacks made on transactions in the final three months of 2015, up 80% on levels recorded for the corresponding period the previous year, according to the report.

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