Risk Tops European Banks’ Analytic Priorities — But Should It?

Analytic investments are priorities for banks across Europe, who are looking not better risk management, better identification of customer needs and better capital management. This is evident in the results of FICO and Efma’s seventh European Credit Risk Outlook, published on Tuesday.

More than 40% of respondents say they will invest in improving their analytics for a host of functions, with the highest priorities being credit risk models for applicants (61% of respondents) and customers (50%).

Risk management uses dominate, as you would expect, given that most of the 130+ respondents wear a risk hat. But FICO and Efma see real opportunities for banks that do more than sharpen their risk analytics, and use Big Data and optimization to improve customer cross-selling, profitability and retention. The winners will be those banks that understand their customers’ needs as much as they know their customers’ risk.

For more discussion on this topic, see the article in ComputerWorld UK on this survey, which includes commentary from FICO’s Neill Crossley.