The main management headache for IT directors in the
financial services sector remains finding and retaining the right
staff, according to research conducted at the City IT
Forum.
Fifty per cent of the 120 IT directors responding to the survey
said staffing was their top management issue for next year.
Gary Barnett, research director at Ovum, said finding quality staff
was still a huge problem for many IT departments, despite the
economic slowdown in recent years. "Getting a banking application
to perform reliably and efficiently requires a very high level of
expertise and people with these skills are still in short supply in
the marketplace.
"Even when IT departments were laying off staff, the smart
companies did not lay off their very best people so they never came
onto the marketplace," Barnett said.
IT governance at 47.2% and compliance at 43% were close behind
staffing on the top five concerns list, followed by leadership
(40.5%) and influencing the board (33.9%).
Mike North, principal consultant with Winchester White, said
regulatory regimes were forcing financial services companies to
consider how regulation could be built into their processes rather
than added onto the side. "It is forcing people to think about
governance in a more scientific way."
The regulatory body the Financial Services Authority could order
management reports from lines of business, he said.