Directly following the global financial crisis, banking became
a heavily politicised industry, with politicians, emboldened by
a global series of bail-outs, vowing that nation states would
never again have to rescue the industry. Increasing regulation
and oversight ensued, starting in Europe and Asia Pacific,
and spreading across the world through the United States.
One bank explained that, “regulation is a limiting factor for us
banks – it makes us much less flexible. But historically it hasn’t
been high on the agenda as there have been many other
things that make us inflexible. But it does need to be looked
at in the future”.
Many of the additional regulatory burdens globally stem
from implementations of the Basel III agreement, which
sets minimum leverage ratios, additional liquidity ratios and
capital requirements. This does not look likely to lighten as
the economy recovers, which means that compliance and
risk departments will be larger and more powerful, and
technological tools will be invested in and developed for
monitoring to ensure compliance.
Yet there is a conundrum here – regulators have to date
refused to be drawn on whether increased separation and
barriers between different parts of a bank also requires
physical barriers in the workplace. Openness and flexibility
in the workplace have been shown to significantly increase
innovation, collaboration and productivity, so regulation and
consequent separation will threaten the move to a more
permeable way of working.
According to one bank we interviewed, “there is no real
substance to how the regulations will change the workplace.
It is always easier to block workplace change on the grounds
that it might go against something, rather than to have a
sophisticated discussion about how we actually increase the
flexibility of our spaces”.
The banks we interviewed all want to transition to a culture
of openness and transparency, which puts the clients and
customers at the centre of banking, and builds their trust,
moving away from the emphasis on building revenue at
great risk.
3.1. Regulation
Openness and
flexibility in the
workplace have been
shown to significantly
increase innovation,
collaboration and
productivity, so
regulation and
consequent separation
will threaten the move
to a more permeable
way of working.
21
The future of the financial workplace
|
September 2014
