As part of our continued commitment to the financial services industry we are conducting our 13th (but not unlucky) annual survey at a time of cautious growth across the sector.
Last year's annual survey revealed a feeling of optimism with 62% of respondents believing the UK economy to be either stable or improved on the previous 12 months. During the past year this optimism has borne fruit, although probably not as much as everyone had hoped for, if not expected, but we will know more once the results of this year's survey are received.
London's reputation as a major financial centre continued to suffer from the fall out of the 'credit crunch', with New York still representing the biggest threat. It will be interesting to see if this sentiment is held, in light of the FSA's intensive supervisory approach as well as time being a great healer.
94% of respondents to last year's survey were expecting turnover to remain stable or increase in the forthcoming 12 months, and given the increased activity in the market this expectation is likely to have materialised. Conversely, 44% of respondents to last year's survey had experienced a decline in profit margins as pricing pressures took hold. Will this trend continue?
Unsurprisingly, 2009 was the year of redundancies but our respondents were not expecting this trend to continue in 2010 and based on evidence in the market place, this hope will convert into actual results in this year's survey.
Tax and regulatory changes were reported to have had an adverse impact in last year's survey and this sentiment is expected to continue in light of proposed changes, and consequently increased costs, in both areas.
Are we in for another tough year as fears of a double-dip recession circulate? We would like to hear your thoughts.
Our survey is a reliable source of information relevant to your sector and highlights key areas affecting your market and business. We would like to invite you to participate by completing the enclosed survey questionnaire, and would be grateful if you could return this to us by 9 December. All participants will receive a full summary of our survey findings which we hope will provide a useful benchmark of industry sentiment.
Individual responses are treated as confidential.
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