European Retail Banks - An Endangered Species?

In this summary you will learn

• Why Europe’s retail banks must transform if they are to compete
• How these banks must adapt to a changing marketplace
• How European banks must identify and serve their retail market segments

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Why you should read European Retail Banks - An Endangered Species?

In most industries, those advocating change initiatives (usually consultants) only need to run around warning that the sky is falling in order to be heard - and indeed in many industries the sky does look a bit shaky. Apparently, that claxon-sounding process is a bit more complicated in the banking industry, where no one wants to suggest that something might be, um, unsound. Kern and Dombret have adapted the phrase "a less rosy future" to describe their concerns regarding the issues that European retail banks face today. Make no mistake, however, despite their delicate and responsible phrasing, Kern and Dombret see an immediate need for banks to undergo a serious transformation. The traditional market activities of banks - the value chain - must be broken up into more specialized parts, and banks must find a market segment they can serve, and then adapt to serve it. While the topic is a bit specialized, getAbstract.com strongly recommends this book to anyone with an interest in the future of banking.

About the Authors

Andreas R. Dombret is managing director of the Financial Institutions Group of Rothschild and co-head of Rothschild Germany. Dombret, who advises European financial services companies, is the former managing director at JPMorgan, in charge of German financial institutions. Dr. Holger J. Kern is the vice president of Monitor Group of Munich, a distribution strategies, segmentation and branding consultancy with 29 offices worldwide. Previously, Kern was responsible for the Financial Services Practice Group at Roland Berger.