15/4/11
By Sophie Baker
Changing customer behaviour, intense competition and new banking models will alter the Russian banking market over the next four years, claims Accenture.
Nine out of ten Russian bankers interviewed by the consultant believe that intense competition is “inevitable” over the next four years, driven primarily by reduced margins (90 per cent), declining customer trust and loyalty (80 per cent) and changing customer behaviour (80 per cent).
Alexandre Gorine, managing director of Accenture in Russia, said: “The banking market in Russia is growing, but more slowly than in the pre-crisis period – with revenue growth estimated at about five to ten per cent annually over the next three to four years, Meanwhile, the marketplace remains fragmented and under-penetrated in terms of high value, higher margin financial products – and demand for channel and service innovation is rising.”
The average Russian bank customer uses three banks to provide an average of three banking products, the survey showed, and the most commonly used banking products are basic and transactional.
Only four per cent of Russian bank customers hold investment products, seven per cent have mortgages and ten per cent car loans.
Customer-centric operating models are tipped to win out, with nine out of ten Russian bankers believing they will need to transform their business and operating models to adapt to change market demands by 2015. Customer revenue growth, strategic cost reduction and technology innovation are critical business challenges, according to eight out of ten bankers, but only 38 per cent said the transformation of their business and operating model is currently among their bank’s highest strategic priorities.
“Due to the scale and complexity of moving from a traditional product-driven operating model to one that is built around customer needs and behaviours, many banks may find they lack the ability and readiness to embrace such a profound change,” added Dmitri Zaitsev, head of Accenture’s management consulting practice in Russia. “Consequently there will be winners and losers, leading to further consolidation of the Russian banking market by 2015.”
