Deloitte: Financial institutions plan to boost future spending on blockchain

Several financial institutions are preparing to increase their spending on blockchain in 2021, according to an upcoming survey from Deloitte entitled Financial Services Industry Outlook 2020.

Initial results shared with Coin Telegraph, indicate that 27% of organizations surveyed expect a slight increase in spending on blockchain technology and distributed records, while they expect 14% is a significant increase. 33% were expecting no change, while the remaining 27% are looking to reduce their expenses slightly.

The survey was conducted between July and August 2020. The respondents included 800 senior executives of financial institutions - banks, payments firms, insurance companies, hedge funds, and other investment firms, as companies were required to record at least $ 1 billion in revenue in 2019 to be included in the survey.

The survey combined blockchain with a variety of other emerging technologies. Although not the most popular overall, the technology appears quite polarized: the percentage of organizations expecting a significant increase in spending is the second highest in the sample, with cloud computing advancing just a little 15%.

On the contrary, it is only automated process automation that has left more organizations unaffected, with 35% of them expecting to cut their expenses. Artificial intelligence comes in third, with 26% of respondents expecting to reduce investment.

financial institutions may also look to boost investment in data privacy and cybersecurity - areas that could utilize a number of blockchain-based solutions.

Commenting on the report, Richard Walker, head of the Blockchain team for Deloitte Financial Services, said 2021 will be a milestone year for blockchain technologies and distributed ledgers.

Walker added that after years of promises and expectations, people will be surprised by the speed and impact observed in this area next year.

The report follows a similar positive survey conducted by Deloitte in February, which indicated that 39% of companies worldwide already have blockchain technology embedded in production.