BUILDING SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION: STRATEGY IN A NEW MARKET ENVIRONMENT

During the course of the 1980's, the market environment facing the personal financial services sector has undergone a radical change which has forced market participants into a period of strategic realignment. In part this change has been demand driven as a result of both an increase in the volume of personal savings and a requirement for increasingly sophisticated products from a more financially aware consumer. However, many of the most visible developments have been supply driven, in the form of extensive deregulation, developments in information technology and the associated globalisation of financial markets.