For capital markets firms to achieve high performance they need to understand the dynamics of the emerging economic order.

The old order, in which economic power was concentrated in three stable economic centers in North America, Europe and Asia, is fading—to be replaced by a world where economic power is split between multiple centers. Accenture calls this the multi-polar world. Even the current crisis in the world´s financial markets, where we see a massive change to the industry arising, is unlikely to turn this development back to where it has been before.

While any forecast of what the capital markets industry will look like is somewhat unclear, the capital markets industry has always been characterized by a couple of key characteristics that will likely not disappear and that have even been reinforced by the development towards a multi-polar world prior to the crisis. Among those are:

• A constant pressure on margins.
• The sudden rise of new competitors.
• The need to create new products—and get them to market—quickly.

• 15 of the top 15 investment banks worldwide.
• 9 of the top 10 global custody companies worldwide.
• 12 of the top 20 money managers worldwide.
• 12 equity, commodities and futures exchanges

To receive Accenture’s latest insights directly, sign up for My Outlook, Accenture’s bi-weekly newsletter that is personalized based on your business and industry interests.

Since 2003, Accenture has been researching the defining characteristics of high performance—the sustained out-performance of certain organizations relative to their peers, across business and economic cycles and even generations of leadership. The aim of this study is to understand what actions enable high performance—and how to help clients emulate them.

This research effort—recognized by Harvard Business Review as one of the 10 most notable initiatives in the field—encompasses the financial services sector. Our research has shown that there are three building blocks of high performance: market focus and position, distinctive capabilities and a specific performance anatomy. In addition we found that financial services companies should follow two principles in order to transform their businesses towards high performance, which are even more relevant in a multi-polar world:

• Differentiate on the outside. In a global world, high performers must be able to adjust to markets that change rapidly, and create and deliver new products to those markets speedily.
  
  
• Simplify on the inside. To enable differentiation without costly systems and process complexity, high performers must streamline both local and global operations. The challenge is to implement operating models that support an outside differentiation and that can manage the inherent conflicts between the scale required for global operations and the need for a customer-centric approach.

• Core Trading and Settlement Services Transforming front-, middle- and back-office trading operations and risk-management departments.
  
  
• Exchange and Clearing Services Helping exchanges and clearing institutions respond to the challenges of operating in a global market.
  
  
• Wealth and Asset Management Services Creating next generation business models for wealth and asset management clients.

In addition to our core services, we offer functional services specialized for the needs of the capital markets industries:

• Mergers & Acquisitions Services
• Risk & Regulatory Management Solution
• Talent & Organization Performance
• Data Quality Solution for Risk and Regulatory Management
• Application Outsourcing for Financial Services
• Business Process Outsourcing

To receive Accenture’s latest insights directly, sign up for My Outlook, Accenture’s bi-weekly newsletter that is personalized based on your business and industry interests.