Preview: How financial and professional services companies are responding to coronavirus

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The unprecedented actions taken by governments and nations across the globe to restrict travel, non-essential office and factory work and social/sporting events in an attempt to control the global coronavirus pandemic — which has already infected nearly 500,000 people — has had a dramatic impact on business.

Many companies are now managing remote workforces, either by choice or government mandate. Certain industries such as financial services, which are built on face-to-face interaction, are now living in an environment devoid of any human touch.

Arizent, the parent company of American Banker, this week released a broad industry survey on both the impact of the crisis and emerging responses. The survey found the pandemic has forced many companies to implement new or modified business continuity plans, appoint executive response teams and invest in new technologies to enable a remote workforce. The pandemic is also expected to lead to a greater investment in technologies that reduce the reliance on face-to-face interactions for both coworkers and clients.

Arizent, which also publishes PaymentsSource, The Bond Buyer, Financial Planning and other titles, conducted a survey of 304 executives and other business leaders on March 19th - 20th across an array of sectors including financial services, wealth management, fintech, professional services, government, education, consulting and other areas to understand how businesses are dealing with the crisis, their sentiments about the future and potential plans to change how they operate going forward.

In this report readers will learn:

• How prepared were companies overall, and how well equipped are financial services and fintech firms' existing business continuity plans to deal with the coronavirus crisis?
• How many firms are already feeling the negative impacts of the pandemic, and how is this affecting their outlook on the economy and their own businesses for the next 12 to 24 months?
• Were fintechs better prepared to adapt to the remote work environment?
• How prepared were financial services firms to adapt to remote work?
• How are customers reacting to a lack of human interaction from branch or office visits?
• Where are companies, especially financial services, investing in adapting to the remote work environment?
• What technologies does financial services see as key to helping them cope with a customer service environment devoid of human interaction?

Subscribers may access the full study by clicking here.