23rd CEO Survey: Sector's trends

Businesses today are navigating in an unpredictable environment and have to face the risk of uncertainty. Proactive leaders therefore need to create strategies both adaptable and tailored to their industry’s shifts and trends.

Complementary to our 23rd annual CEO survey, PwC is releasing throughout the year a range of sector-specific content designed to guide decision-makers in their planning operations.

Asset and wealth management trends 2020: Are managers ready for stormier seas?

Financial services talent trends 2020: The upskilling imperative for financial services firms

Financial services talent trends 2020

CEOs at financial services firms face a dilemma. Because the industry is changing rapidly, they must build the right skills for their organisation to continue to compete in the future. Yet doing so requires making investments that won't generate a return for several years. In the meantime, they face relentless pressure to hit short-term financial targets.

Judging from the results of PwC's 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey, the industry has yet to solve this challenge, but it must. In a fast-changing economy, winning companies are adept at building new skills and capabilities, particularly those based on digital technology. These organisations have moved beyond the traditional ideas that upskilling equals training and that the workforce is a fixed entity, and instead, they create more flexible ways to access the skills and capabilities they need.

Explore the talent findings

Laurent Probst

Advisory Partner, Industry & Public Sector, PwC Luxembourg

+ 352 49 48 48 2199

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Asset and wealth management trends 2020: Are managers ready for stormier seas?

Talent trends 2020: Upskilling - Building confidence in an uncertain world­

As we write, in mid-April 2020, COVID-19 is the main concern for people and businesses around the globe. Business leaders have activated their contingency plans to keep people safe and healthy - and to keep their businesses running. What remains a universal truth is that people must always be at the centre of corporate strategies both when economies are strong and when they are under threat. What's also true is that the keys to unlocking an organisation’s value lie in the organisation’s culture, in building and maintaining trust, and in harnessing the right skills.

PwC's 23rd Global CEO Survey of 1,581 business leaders was conducted in September and October 2019, before the spread of COVID-19. Three-quarters of CEOs said they were concerned about whether they would have the talent they needed. Their worry was around how that would constrain growth.

Today that same lack of people with the right skills and adaptability could hamper companies’ ability to thrive in a post-pandemic economy. As businesses look to protect their workforce, they will still face the challenge of matching skills with gaps.

Explore the talent findings

Christian Scharff

Partner, People, Experience and Change, PwC Luxembourg

+352 49 48 48 2051

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Talent trends 2020
Asset and wealth management trends 2020: Are managers ready for stormier seas?

Asset and wealth management trends 2020: Are managers ready for stormier seas?

With investor expectations shifting and uncertainty over market conditions increasing, 2020 will test asset and wealth management (AWM) firms. Managers might become more cautious, but prudence has to be balanced with the need to deliver investment yield.

For the past decade, growth in assets under management (AuM) has been buoyed by the tailwind of strong market returns. Even before the increasing concern about COVID-19, geopolitical and economic uncertainty was building, the squeeze on fees intensifying, and investors were focusing ever more closely on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. Asset and wealth managers now face the acid test of whether they can deliver in unpredictable times. How can you ensure your business is ready for 2020?

Explore the asset and wealth management findings

Oliver Weber

Tax Partner, PwC Luxembourg

+352 49 48 48 3175

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Asset and wealth management trends 2020: Are managers ready for stormier seas?

Banking and capital markets trends 2020: Laying the foundations for growth

PwC's 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey shows that the confidence of banking and capital markets (BCM) CEOs about their organisation’s growth prospects over the coming year has dipped markedly, even before the coronavirus pandemic. Three-year confidence is also low, but stronger than the 12-month outlook. These findings are broadly in line with sentiment among business leaders in the survey as a whole.

The anxieties of CEOs in banking and capital markets (BCM) are mounting. On top of long-standing angst about regulation, public trust and the pace of technological change, PwC’s 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey shows that their concern about the effect of unclear economic growth on their company’s prospects has risen sharply since last year. And this was before COVID-19 became a global concern, adding new pressure as banks stress test for portfolio health and liquidity. 

The survey also highlights growing worries about populism, trade conflict and geopolitical uncertainty. Yet all of these challenges could help accelerate operational transformation and open up opportunities for differentiation and growth.

Explore the banking and capital markets findings

Roxane Haas

Audit Partner, Banking, People Leader, PwC Luxembourg

+352 49 48 48 2451

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Banking & capital markets trends 2020
Asset and wealth management trends 2020: Are managers ready for stormier seas?

Insurance trends 2020: Moving from resilience to reinvention will help insurers succeed in uncertain times

Insurance CEOs’ confidence in the global economy is waning. Faith in their own growth prospects over the coming year has also dipped. Yet longer-term confidence is holding up well, underlining insurers’ belief in their ability to deal with disruption and navigate the economic and political uncertainties ahead.

In the face of gathering economic headwinds, tech disruption and geopolitical uncertainty, PwC’s 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey shows that although most insurers acknowledge challenges over the next 12 months, they’re confident in their own long-term resilience. The front-runners, in fact, want to go beyond simply surviving by using these challenges to their advantage.

Explore the insurance findings

Matt Moran

Advisory Partner, Insurance, Alliances Leader, PwC Luxembourg

+352 49 48 48 2071

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Asset and wealth management trends 2020: Are managers ready for stormier seas?

Real estate trends 2020: The challenge of keeping pace with stakeholder demands

Short-term confidence is down, but the three-year outlook remains strong for both the overall economy and CEOs’ own companies. With economic conditions likely to keep interest rates low, real estate yields will remain attractive to investors.

Value drivers are shifting as real estate becomes more customer- and service-orientated. At the same time, the sector is coming under increasing pressure to face up to its impact on society and the environment. How can businesses address these demands and excel?

This year is going to be a testing one. Real estate CEOs’ confidence in both the global economy and their own growth prospects over the coming year have fallen sharply since 2019, according to PwC’s 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey. This was before the uncertainty created by COVID-19.

Explore the real estate findings

Vincent Lebrun

Tax Leader, PwC Luxembourg

+352 49 48 48 3193

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Asset and wealth management trends 2020: Are managers ready for stormier seas?

Consumer and retail trends 2020: Managing expectations around trust and data

Driven by intense competition from tech-enabled companies, consumer markets CEOs continue to seek revenue growth through traditional means. But they’ve also flagged improving the customer experience as by far their top investment priority for the next 12 months.

For consumer markets companies, including manufacturers, retailers and service providers, the ultimate stakeholders are the people using their products and services. And never before has it been more challenging to keep them happy. As consumer behaviours have become increasingly centred on digital devices, people have developed more demanding expectations.

This puts tremendous pressure on consumer markets entities to maintain their relevance. In PwC’s 23rd Annual Global CEO Survey, CEOs of consumer markets organisations highlight the speed of change in consumer behaviour as a critical concern and, by an overwhelming margin, see improving customer experience as their primary opportunity for growth.

Explore the consumer and retail findings

Gilles Vanderweyen

Audit Partner, PwC Luxembourg

+352 49 48 48 2156

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Asset and wealth management trends 2020: Are managers ready for stormier seas?

Other industries

Contact us

François Mousel

Managing Partner, PwC Luxembourg

Tel: +352 49 48 48 2182

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