New research released from financial services technology leader FIS (NYSE: FIS) found that financial institutions with the most advanced operating models are growing nearly twice as fast as the rest of the industry.

The FIS research also found that financial services executives around the world are more confident in their underlying technology and operating models in 2018. Nearly half (47%) of firms surveyed said their operations function is strong enough to support their growth plans this year, compared with 28% in 2017.

The findings are part of the annual FIS Readiness Report, which surveyed more than 1,500 C-level and senior executives across buy-side, sell-side and insurance firms. The study asked executives of those firms to assess their organization’s capabilities across six key operational pillars. Based on their scores, FIS then further analysed those organizations ranking in the top 20% of the FIS Readiness scoring system. Classified as ‘Readiness Leaders,’ the top 20% were studied to see how their investment priorities differ from their peers and how that impacts their growth.

Readiness Leaders Outperform Peers

The research found that of the six operational pillars, firms’ digital innovation strategies have the most discernible link with stronger revenue growth, followed by automation and emerging technology. However digital innovation strategy ranked just 5.5 out of 10 on FIS’ index for performance, which highlights the weakest performance scores across the industry today.

Among the findings of the FIS 2018 ‘Pursuit for Growth’ report:

• Readiness Leaders achieved average revenue growth of 3.88% over the past 12 months, compared with 2.12% growth for the rest of the industry.
• 80% of Readiness Leaders have fully or near fully automated key processes, versus 46% of the rest of the industry.
• Nearly two-fifths of all respondents (38 percent) say they want to significantly reduce the size of their owned IT infrastructure over the next 12 months.

Martin Boyd, Head of Institutional & Wholesale at FIS, said: “Our research shows that financial services firms can increase their abilities to accelerate their growth if they evolve their traditional operating model of data management, efficiency and risk management into one built on digital innovation, emerging technologies and advanced automation. Based upon our research, those firms that have been able to expand their focus and modernize their operating model should be well placed for success in the future.”

(Source: FIS)