The global financial crisis caused many corporates to review their treasury operations, with a large number reducing banking partners and signing up to shared technology platforms. Such changes, combined with the introduction of new regulations, such as the Single European Payments Area, have left many banks rethinking their global transaction services.
Ongoing economic and regulatory uncertainty is playing to the advantage of established international financial centres, particularly London, which, despite the recent Libor scandal, has been named the most attractive financial centre in The Banker’s 2012 global asset management survey.
A decade-old political vision to create a harmonised payments scheme across Europe is finally nearing its deadline. But the prospect of a Single European Payments Area never seemed so threatened by economic volatility or so opaque in regulatory direction.
As the economic scales tip in favour of emerging economies – particularly those in Asia – it seems increasingly likely that one of the region's leading financial centres will steal the status of global wealth management capital from Switzerland. The question is, which city will it be?
Italy's banks are struggling. Many are weighed down by bad assets and an oversubscription to government bonds, while those with relatively healthy portfolios are battling against a difficult economy and the series of downgrades that has recently befallen them. Despite this, CEOs at the country's largest institutions remain optimistic.
Heavier capital requirements and tighter funding conditions for European universal banks have increased the importance of debt capital markets rather than bank loans for European companies. Morgan Stanley's co-head of global fixed-income markets is working to make sure the bank can seize the opportunity.
The Swiss National Bank has been the most aggressive central bank in a developed economy when it comes to seeking to stop its safe haven status from driving excessive currency appreciation, but many other such institutions are using other, more varied techniques.