Commercial Finance Specialists

A smaller number of banks will play a bigger part in asset financing and commercial investment over the next two decades, it has been claimed.

The number of banks offering asset financing and development investment funding over the next two decades is set to reduce markedly, it has been claimed.

Responding to the Confederation of British Industry and PricewaterhouseCoopers Financial Services Survey, Barclays' John Varley explained: "We will see a smaller number of banks playing a bigger part in the global industry over the next 20 years."

There will also be a number of new lenders emerging from the leading Asian economies, according to Stephen Green of HSBC.

He said: "The next five to ten years, we can expect the emergence of new Asian competitors, particularly from China.

"The majority of the top ten banks in five years' time will come from one of the two jurisdictions capable of hosting very large institutions."

Last week's survey suggested that the UK financial services industry faces mixed fortunes this year, with many banks and securities traders not confident that business volumes seen over the last three months will be maintained in the first quarter of 2010.