Future-Proofing Financial Services: Strategies For CIOs Navigating Global Market Complexity
Navigating diverse global markets is becoming more complex due to rising regulatory demands alongside ongoing instability, trade disputes and geopolitical conflict. Countries are so interdependent that changes in one can affect the entire world. For example, consider how U.S. tariffs have rerouted the world's shipments and impacted sales of countless products.
To future-proof their global operations, companies and the financial service providers who support them must act now to strategically plan and embrace technology and digitalization to best prepare themselves for the ongoing storm of change that's rewriting the global economy.
Rising Complexities
With the global market reacting quickly to ongoing changes, a multitude of factors are making it increasingly more complicated to do business across borders. Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi, recently mentioned the shift away from globalization in her article about how companies are managing ambiguity by suspending investments, slowing hiring (U.S. companies added 26% fewer jobs this year than last year) and strengthening their balance sheets to prepare for the unknown.
Differing regulations across jurisdictions complicates matters, forcing businesses to keep up with which regulations are applicable in each location and fast-tracking adjustments in their businesses practices to stay compliant. Regulations regarding employment, finances, recordkeeping, data conventions and interoperability of systems between markets are changing too quickly for old styles of monitoring to keep up.
What's At Stake
Finding your company out of compliance with regulations such as the EU's Anti-Money Laundering Directives, the UK's Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act or the U.S. Corporate Transparency Act can result in suspended trading or operations, wreaking havoc on customers, the supply chain and bottom line. Lost revenue, missed business opportunities and reputational damage can hobble a company for years. Even if business is allowed to continue, investigations due to noncompliance are distracting and funnel resources and attention away from growth activities.
Digital-First Is Key To Future Readiness
Future readiness for global change starts with a digital outlook. During the Covid-19 pandemic, scores of businesses were forced to adapt to digital experiences. Once they transitioned, they realized how convenient it was to automate and digitize actions like data and document collation. With digital processes in place, adapting to changes in the market is exponentially faster than with manual processes.
Being digital first means having accurate data with identifiable origins. Everything digital is driven by data, and as AI becomes more embedded in decision-making, good, clean data is not just helpful, it is essential. High-quality data is the foundation for future readiness and for ensuring AI delivers reliable, explainable outcomes.
Digital literacy across the workforce, especially in roles like legal, risk and compliance, is becoming essential. At BNY, CIO Leigh-Ann Russell highlighted how their legal team embraced AI by completing full training and proactively supporting innovation. This approach ensures collaboration on data safety and privacy, with informed partners rather than barriers.
Digital readiness also positions firms to be competitive when new products, ecosystems and business models emerge. For example, the rise of digital assets has picked up pace in 2025 and digital identity goes hand-in-hand with serving this market. Digital identity is a key theme across all jurisdictions. Forward-thinking leaders must be aware of and ready to engage in initiatives like these.
Preparing For Digitization
In response to the growing complexity and fragmentation of global anti-money laundering and 'Know Your Customer' regulations, some industries are banding together to create unified standards. For example, the biggest banks in the world, as well as infrastructure providers and exchanges, are among members of the Financial Markets Standards Board, a UK-based body that develops standards firms for certain operations and compliance in financial markets.
Technology As Strategy
Global businesses are harnessing a broad range of new and proven technologies to stay up to date and manage risk. Monitoring for change, then planning and responding to it, is a huge responsibility for CIOs, CROs, CTOs and their compliance teams. The right technology can help businesses both create and execute strategy by staying abreast of change and pivoting quickly when necessary.
• Automation: Automation continues to play a critical role alongside AI when it comes to executing procedures and implementing controls in a digitized manner at scale. For example, it enables financial institutions to quickly implement policy changes in response to evolving regulations and ensures consistent adherence. Unlike AI, which relies heavily on the availability and quality of input data and may lack built-in quality control, automation provides a structured, rule-based approach that ensures accuracy where there's no margin for error. It also offers banks the confidence of a clear audit trail and demonstrable data lineage, allowing them to consistently evidence data provenance and meet compliance obligations with transparency.
• Cloud-based systems: Cloud data storage and processing increases speed of scalability, may lower costs compared to managed data infrastructure and enables easier interoperability across systems.
• AI and agentic AI, including intelligent document processing: AI use-cases feel limitless and, at this point, arguably introduce as much risk and complexity as it may help address. To keep innovation relevant, keeping the problem you are trying to solve front of mind is key. One use-case with an obvious ROI and wide adoption early on in financial services is using AI to extract information from the many cumbersome structures and unstructured documents relied on throughout the client lifecycle to remove time, cost and error.
• Corporate digital identification: It's every company's responsibility to know who they do business with. Corporate digital identity technology enables leaders to understand risk exposure amid trade wars and geopolitical uncertainty.
Building In Flexibility From The Start
In a world where trends change daily, building in flexibility from the start is the best way to plan. Start with a global outlook and make predictions for five or 10 years, then back up and build a plan that focuses on the first 12-18 months. That way, your organization can make bold decisions but also be nimble when change occurs.
Plan For The Future
Economic and political uncertainty creates complexities for businesses. With careful planning, the right technology and forward thinking, companies can ensure they are in the best position to future-proof their organizations and thrive in diverse global markets. As the power of AI and data to drive efficiency, agility and smarter decision-making increases in ever faster and greater waves, the importance and potential of technology as a competitive advantage has never been clearer.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jackson Hole, key retail earnings, and fresh economic data: Here's everything the stock market is watching this week
Markets are kicking off another news- and data-heavy week. Investors are watching for the July Fed minutes, fresh housing data, and a slew of retail earnings. The spotlight will be on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments at Jackson Hole on Friday. Get ready for another big week for the stock market. Investors are staring at a handful of catalysts on the radar this week, with a slew of fresh earnings reports and key signals from the Fed on the docket. All could be influential in determining the path ahead for Fed rate cuts — a bullish catalyst investors have been waiting for all year. Odds for a cut next month have edged down slightly since last week, but markets are still pricing in an 85% chance the Fed will cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point at the September meeting, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Here's what investors will be reacting to this week. Fed minutes Investors will be paying close attention to the minutes from the Fed's July policy meeting on Wednesday. The meeting minutes will give markets more insight into the central bank's thoughts about inflation, the strength of the US economy, and its outlook for rate cuts going forward. It comes at a crucial time for the Fed, which is at a crossroads over the direction of monetary policy. Powell has continued to signal this year that the Fed is comfortable keeping rates steady, as officials wait to see the inflationary impact of tariffs. But inflation data has been mixed recently. Consumer prices rose in-line with economists' expectations last month, but wholesale inflation rose more than expected in the latest producer price index, a sign that more inflationary pressures could be building. Meanwhile, the job market has shown signs of cooling. The US added fewer jobs than expected in July, while job gains in May and June were revised downward by a combined 258,000. "Traders will be closely watching the minutes for more insight into the future rate-cut trajectory," Aaron Hill, an analyst at FP Markets, wrote in a note. "Still, the slowdown in the labour market data, as noted above, firmly swung the pendulum in favour of easing policy next month." "At the margin, the minutes of the July 29-30 FOMC meeting (Wed) could fill in some blanks about how dug in the doves were and how intransigent the inflation hawks might've been in late July," Ed Yardeni, the president of Yardeni Research, wrote over the weekend. Retail earnings Investors are also waiting on a slew of earnings reports from major retailers this week. Here are the companies on deck to report their second-quarter results: Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Home Depot (HD) TJX Companies (TJX) Lowe's (LOW) Target (TGT) Walmart (WMT) BJ Wholesale Club (BJ) The coming reports will give investors a glimpse into how the US consumer is faring. Weak earnings are likely to fan concerns about economic growth and raise expectations for a Fed rate cut next month. Markets are looking at the coming earnings reports as "key signposts" this week, top economist David Rosenberg said. "In terms of the mood of the US consumer, it is none too good (and as we saw in Friday's retail sale report, there is a trend in place towards dining in over dining out which is a sure sign of consumer frugality," the Rosenberg Research founder wrote in a note. Jackson Hole All eyes will be on Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Friday. The central bank chief is set to speak at the Fed's annual Jackson Hole symposium, where he's expected to set the agenda for future rate cuts. Markets are also eager to see if the Fed Chair comments on the independence of the central bank. President Donald Trump has continued to pressure Powell to lower interest rates, and is narrowing his list of potential Fed candidates. The speech could "well be a market-mover" this week, Rosenberg added. "One hawkish surprise could come from any commentary about how the weakness in the labor market of late has come largely from the supply side, and the 'break-even' for job growth to keep the unemployment rate steady is far lower than it used to be," Rosenberg wrote. "We expect the Federal Reserve to use Jackson Hole as an opportunity to prepare the markets and signal towards a 25 basis point cut in September and a potentially accommodating stance through year-end. Since this will be Powell's last Jackson Hole conference as Fed Chair, he'll likely reinforce the need for Fed independence from the Executive Branch," Richard Saperstein, the chief investment office of Treasury Partners, wrote in a note. Stocks could see some selling pressure once Powell speaks on Friday, strategists at Bank of America wrote in a note last week. "Dovish Powell at Jackson Hole = buy rumor, sell fact profit-taking," a team led by Michael Hartnett said. Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bausch + Lomb board members resign after Icahn agreement ends
(Reuters) -Bausch + Lomb said on Monday Brett Icahn and Gary Hu have resigned from its board of directors after the termination of the agreement with billionaire Carl Icahn and some of his affiliates. The agreement, dated June 21, 2022, ended after the Icahn group's net long position in Bausch Health Companies, Bausch + Lomb's parent, fell below the required threshold. On Friday, Bausch Health said Paulson Capital, along with certain affiliates and managed funds, increased their position in the company and acquired about 34.7 million common shares previously held by the Icahn Group. In April, Carl Icahn had built an economic interest covering about 34% of Bausch Health's shares. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Vulcan Elements signs rare earths supply deal with ReElement Technologies
(Reuters) -Vulcan Elements, a North Carolina-based rare earth magnet manufacturer, has agreed to buy a supply of the critical minerals from ReElement Technologies that will be sourced outside of China. The companies, both of which are privately held, declined to give precise financial terms but said that the price is "significantly below" the floor of $110 per kilogram that the U.S. Department of Defense guaranteed to MP Materials last month for the two most popular rare earths. The contract was signed in mid-July, Vulcan said. Rare earth oxides are used to make metal that can then be turned into magnets for use in fighter jets, radar and other military applications, as well as consumer electronics. "This pricing will enable Vulcan to be competitive in global markets," Vulcan CEO John Maslin told Reuters. "We wanted to make sure the unit economics made sense." Indiana-based ReElement, which licenses its technology from Purdue University, will supply Vulcan with "thousands of metric tons" of rare earth oxides annually for five years beginning in 2026 from outdated electronics or from mine sites, said CEO Mark Jensen. ReElement says it can supply the rare earths to Vulcan below $110 per kilogram because of its use of a processing technique known as chromatography, which is different than the industry-standard solvent extraction used by many of its peers. "We are laser focused on cost," Jensen told Reuters. "We will see where the market goes, but right now we're focused more on the market price versus that price floor." Reuters was first to report last month that the Trump administration is considering extending that price floor to other firms, news that was relayed in a close-door Washington meeting attended by Vulcan, ReElement and others.
