Financial Services in the 2020s: Tectonic Shifts and New Landscapes

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Jul 22, 2019
by Salzburg Global Seminar
Financial Services in the 2020s: Tectonic Shifts and New Landscapes

Report from the latest program of the Salzburg Global Finance Forum now online

The geopolitical landscape and the global economy are going through tectonic shifts with the pace of global growth becoming less vigorous and balanced. Growing polarization and protectionist tendencies give rise to continuous economic, political and financial fragmentation. The increasing importance of environmental threats as a result of climate change and their potential impact on the long-term economic and financial stability lead to a growing relevance of sustainable finance and extensive and consistent environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related disclosure. 

Additionally, the rise of new technologies, the increased maturity of players like fintechs, and the entrance of large, established technology companies into financial services are transforming the financial system from a centralized framework into an open architecture. Emerging platforms and fundamental changes in the distribution mechanism of financial services result in a range of activities being offered outside of the core jurisdiction of banking regulators and create new regulatory challenges regarding contextual finance, privacy and data protection. 

The ninth session of the Salzburg Global Finance Forum Financial Services in the 2020s: Tectonic Shifts and New Landscapes – brought together stakeholders from different financial institutions, regulators, and policymakers around the world to discuss how new global trends and emerging risks are impacting and challenging society and financial markets and what consequences they imply for policy, regulation, and practitioners. 

The newly published report provides an executive summary of the discussions from the two-day session (June 23-25, 2019) at Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, together with a list of all participants in attendance.

Download the report as a PDF

The deliberations of the 2019 program of the Salzburg Global Finance Forum demonstrate that a new economic and financial system is emerging driven by technology, demographics, social and political pressures, climate change risks and the environment. New challenges ahead require new finance, which will be more greatly rooted in society, more inclusive, more responsive to the new needs of the real economy, households and entrepreneurs, and better able to support the transition to sustainable development, as well as to serve emerging digital needs. All this must be achieved while still retaining trust and maintaining resilience. 

As the world of finance continues to change, the Forum’s future programs will tackle this new role of finance and explore the new implications and redefining possibilities in the banking and financial markets industry, which in turn could help enable a more sustainable and resilient economy. 


The Salzburg Global Seminar program, Financial Services in the 2020s: Tectonic Shifts and New Landscapes, is part of the multi-year Salzburg Global Finance Forum. This year's program is being held in partnership with JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Oliver Wyman. The sponsors are Cleary Gottlieb, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Raiffeisen. The co-sponsors are Bearing Point, European Banking Federation, Dynex Capital Inc., and State Street.