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Year 4: Looking to the future
Successful implementation of the Strategy over the last three years has been achieved through the pioneering partnership approach of FiSAB and FiSIG. In the last year, in recognition of the successful legacy of that partnership, the new Scottish Government quickly confirmed its commitment to the Strategy and to FiSAB with the Rt Hon Alex Salmond MPMSP, First Minister of Scotland taking up the FiSAB Chair. He is joined on the Board by both John Swinney MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and Jim Mather MSP, Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism.
As well as the changes brought about by the election of a new government in Scotland, the financial services industry, and the wider Scottish and global economies have felt the impact of liquidity and stability issues which have dominated the economic environment. The partnership has responded to these issues by fully engaging in debate to identify the challenges ahead, and just as importantly, acknowledging the opportunities which may also arise.
Significant work has been undertaken this year to broaden the reach of the Strategy. Five FiSIG-led delivery groups enabled a wide pool of experience and knowledge to be applied to the targets set for Year 3 and beyond. This approach enabled the partnership to make use of the skills of colleagues throughout industry, the public sector and Scotland's world-renowned professional bodies. It also raised the profile of the Strategy among these bodies and their memberships - increasing the influence and reach of the Strategy and the combined Scottish Voice FiSAB provides.
Taking forward the outputs of these delivery groups to wider audiences are key priorities for Year 4. In parallel, industry requirements and aspirations will be mapped against FiSAB and FiSIG work to date to ensure consistency and fit.
SFE is providing the impetus and the environment to enable the industry to consider requirements now and trends for the future - looking ahead at the possible shape of the financial services industry in 2018, and at what needs to be done now to ensure a flourishing and successful industry. FiSAB and FiSIG will work over the next year to align this industry vision to the medium and longer term objectives of the Strategy.
The following pages provide an overview of the issues that FiSIG will take forward to ensure the achievement of our long term vision of
an innovative, competitive and thriving international financial services industry in Scotland, underpinned by world class infrastructure and universally recognised as a leader on the global stage.
Looking to the future: People
People are the powerhouse of any economy. Whether in ensuring a highly skilled and flexible workforce which can be relied upon to deliver world-class products and services to a global customer base, or consumers who are confident in their own abilities to make informed choices about both the financial services products they need and the way in which they want to access them, public policy and industry thinking must be aligned in a way that provides for both. Attracting the right people with the right attitudes and skills not only to meet the industry's needs today, but who can also become its leaders of the future is a significant challenge and further work is therefore required to ensure that the industry's profile is such that it can achieve an increased and diversified pool of potential employees.
This year, the approach to delivering on strategic aims has been to plan activity on short, medium and long term timescales. Short term achievements this year are set out earlier in this report. Actions in Year 4 will therefore move on to deliver medium term activities which will entail forging links with delivery agencies to ensure engagement with financial services. For example, FiSIG's work on skills will continue to be progressed by a skills delivery group engaging with both FSSC and Skills Development Scotland ( SDS) while links will be forged with financial capability agencies to ensure that the excellent work undertaken over the past year in identifying financial capability activities in Scotland can be accessed by all who need to use it. Innovative thinking will be applied to identifying the long term issues by making full use of SFE's work on looking to the future shape of the industry.
Activity in Year 4 will focus on:
Actions will include:
- Engaging with FSSC and SDS
- Forging links with financial education and capability agencies
- Building alignment between skills, capability and university collaboration efforts
- Analysing SFE's work in relation to the future shape of the industry in Scotland
Looking to the future: Profile
Scotland is justly proud of its international financial services industry which is a cornerstone of the economy. Past successes stretch back over the centuries. However, past success does not guarantee the future and it is critical that Scotland sustains and improves upon its position as an internationally recognised financial services centre in the face of emerging new markets. Challenges need to be faced and opportunities brought by the growth of these new financial centres need to be realised. In order to take advantage of these markets and ongoing changes in global economies, the industry needs to attract the best and most talented individuals, and for this to happen people in Scotland and abroad need to understand the breadth and depth of the careers available within the industry.
The industry's profile is just as important nationally as it is internationally. In moving forward to medium term activities, FiSAB and FiSIG will continue to promote the industry at home and abroad - the first initiative in Year 4 is the Global Financial Services Week which sees events taking place across Scotland culminating in the inaugural Global Financial Services Conference in Edinburgh on 29 May 2008. This exciting project will help kick-start the Year 4 actions.
Activity in Year 4 will focus on:
Actions will include:
- Delivery of the Global Financial Services Week 26 to 30 May
- Review of outputs from the Global Financial Services Week and identification of actions required
- Continue to work with UK and EU organisations to promote Scotland's interests
- Analysis of outputs from the SFE industry-led work to focus on the future of the industry in Scotland in relation to communications
Looking to the future: Infrastructure
Creating the right business infrastructure in Scotland to enable the financial services industry to flourish is a key strategic aim. By their very nature, infrastructure projects take time to progress and, as such, achievements are expected to be medium and long term deliverables. Important progress has been achieved as set out in preceding pages. Medium term activities for FiSAB and FiSIG will therefore focus on using the combined Scottish Voice of the partnership to influence policy makers to ensure they take account of the industry's requirements. Of vital importance, however, is the need to continually review our understanding of these requirements.
The global marketplace is changing rapidly and customers' needs, particularly as to how and when they want to access services, is ever changing as new and more sophisticated communication tools and methods evolve. We need to understand fully what these changes mean for the industry, their impact on the industry's infrastructure requirements and how the Strategy can help deliver them.
Going forward, the Strategy will be informed by SFE's look at the future shape of the industry in Scotland, as well as a wider debate on infrastructure.
Activity in Year 4 will focus on:
Actions will include:
- Develop a proposal to establish a Scottish centre of excellence for financial services research
- Delivering Scottish supplier community events
- Reviewing infrastructure priorities in light of SFE's look at the future shape of the industry in Scotland
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