Financial News - Yahoo! TowerGroup Underscores Need for Innovation Among Financial Institutions Looking to Differentiate, Drive Results:

Following on from the Front End Innovation Conference, players from the global financial institutions gathered in Boston last week to discuss, "Differentiation, Execution and Results" and what this means to their industry. Unsurprisingly, the strongest call-to-action in response to this question was the need for financial institutions to invest in innovation to drive competitive differentiation both with other financial institutions and adjacent industries.

This has been keenly observed by the TowerGroup, who highlighted that "over the next few years, emerging markets will provide more attractive growth opportunities than the developed world for banks that can be adaptive and innovative in their approach to reaching these previously under banked populations. The ultimate leaders will bring new ideas and best practices both to and from their global expansion."

This is a key point for CEOs who are looking to gain true market leadership position. Consequently, it is expected that there will be a separation from the leaders, who engage with new ideas and embrace best innovation practices and the followers who do not, as companies enter The Innovation Arms Race.

Furthermore, "there has been a resurgence in innovation in the global capital markets, in many cases disrupting long-stagnant business models and driving new and sustainable growth. Innovative players are leveraging the evolution of new products like derivatives and hedge funds, revolutionizing new services in retirement income planning, and implementing new processes that better manage such diverse areas as market data and operational risk."

The message is clear. Companies need to innovate to drive competitive differentiation in order to continue the delivery of value to their customers, whilst sustaining the high levels of performance and return that their shareholders (and like) demand.