The sub-prime crisis that began in early 2007 has sent shock waves throughout the financial services industry. Financial Insights has been tracking major events and providing analysis at each point along the way. As the crisis continues to spread, Financial Insights' global team of analysts is tracking:

How technology spending will be impacted as institutions merge, fail, or conserve capital to stay alive
The impact of future regulatory change on financial institutions and technology vendors
Where there are remaining bright spots in the industry
Steps financial institutions can take to learn from past mistakes

The team will continue to report on events as they unfold in the FinSights Advisor Service, and is making available previously published research to provide a balanced and reasoned analysis of the situation.

Complimentary Research

"Financial Services Crisis – Transitioning from Crisis of Confidence and Liquidity to Longer Term Credit and Economic Issues", November 5, 2008

Overview
This FinSights Advisor discusses how the global financial services system and many economies are entering a holiday consumption period in critical, but stabilized condition. Through the fiscal and monetary policy actions of governments around the world, the global economy has been brought back from an unprecedented lock up in global funds movement and the brink of a complete failure of confidence. The liquidity of global commerce is built on two factors, the ability to move funds and the confidence to do so. Both of these traits have been severely tested over the past two months. As liquidity returns to the financial services system and governments have responded with unprecedented levels of capital infusion and swiftness, the global financial system now faces a longer term recessionary period.

"The 2008 U.S. Elections and Impact on the Financial Services Industry: What To Watch", November 5, 2008

Overview
Following Barack Obama's election to the U.S. presidency and the retention of control of Congress by the Democrats (with substantially greater majorities) Financial Insights expects more legislation to protect consumers, incentives to reduce off-shoring, federal regulation of the insurance industry, more bank failures, and streamlining of banking regulatory agencies. Some of these events, such as the bank failures, would have occurred regardless of the outcome of the election; the differences will largely be of emphasis and severity. One of the big unknowns, and what is most important to the industry, is selection of the incoming Treasury Secretary. The Treasury Secretary will play the lead role in reshaping the industry and laying the stage for the long-term future of the industry.

"Impact of the Financial Crisis on Technology Spending in the Utility Industry", October 16, 2008

Overview
This Energy Insights Perspective analyzes the current impact of the global financial crisis on the U.S. utilities industry, especially as it relates to technology spending, and provides predictions of how technology spending is likely to be impacted in both the short term (3–6 months) and the long term (1–2 years). Technology spending includes information technology as well as renewable and distributed energy technologies.

"Energy Trading–It's DeJa Vu All Over Again" October 16, 2008

Overview
Recent events in the financial markets have the flavor of the failure and fall of Enron. Back in November of 2001, Enron failed and utilities were scrambling to unwind their exposure to the company. It took weeks and months before the deals were unwound, with many companies having significant exposure. Many utilities exited futures trading and decided to focus on asset-backed trading; some exited energy commodity trading altogether.

"Europe and APAC Implications from the U.S Credit Crisis," October 6, 2008

Overview
The reverberations of the U.S. financial crisis are being felt on a global scale. This week witnesses bank failures in Europe as the U.S. fallout, sparked by the Lehman Brothers failure, spreads. Asia Pacific originally thought more insulated from the U.S. crisis, is also feeling the impacts from abroad. This week's FinSights Advisor looks closer at the intended IT spending changes in Europe as well as how IT service providers in APAC are weathering the crisis.

"Fight or Flight: The New Face of Banking and Its Impact on Spending," September 25th, 2008

Overview
As each week brings another momentous surprise and the end of the darkest hour before dawn seems still far away, we ask what the new order will look like and its impact on consumers, technology and future business models. How long will the world live with the consequences of the mother of all bailouts?

"The Impact on ICT Spending of the U.S. Financial System Meltdown," September 25th, 2008

Overview
As we publish this, the U.S. Congress is debating the wisdom and details of the Troubled Asset Relief Act (TARA) of 2008, hereafter referred to as "The Bailout," submitted to it by the Treasury Department. To come up with an opinion we have invoked what we call IDC's First Responder System, a process that allows us to take internal and external inputs and develop a set of assumptions in reaction to specific events.

Irrational Exuberance Turns to Irrational Despair: Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers," September 15th, 2008

Overview
This week's issue looks at how Wall Street continues to witness the shocks from the credit crisis as Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch agreed to be acquired by Bank of America. Furthermore, insurance giant AIG finds itself in a liquidity squeeze and Washington Mutual is being brought to its knees from exposure to mortgage products?