The firm surveyed 200 senior level respondents (30% at c-suite level) across five financial centres to investigate why most large institutions in the financial services sector are struggling to innovate quickly enough.
The majority of financial institutions recognised they were poorly equipped for collaboration with FinTech firms; 55% also demonstrated concerns about achieving the required return on investment, and 54% highlighted the challenges of aligning different organisational cultures.
Commenting on the findings, Angus McLean, head of FinTech at Simmons & Simmons says: “It is the financial institutions that are pragmatic about IP ownership that will reap rewards. Banks and asset managers need to ask themselves: what’s our motivation for partnering? There are different cases for acquiring the IP outright versus taking a licence and there are certainly ways you can maximise the value of that licence. Hyperfinance is the accelerated pace at which digital innovation is disrupting and reshaping the financial sector.
Our study shows that the most innovative institutions are more likely to have grown revenues, but the he majority are not yet geared up for such collaboration and the approach to IP can be a big stumbling block”.