HSBC has released findings from a survey of 3.500 corporate leaders and investors, revealing a pronounced gap between expected growth in digital finance adoption and current business preparedness.
The UK-based bank conducted the research ahead of its annual Global Investment Summit, scheduled to take place next week in Hong Kong. Whilst approximately 90% of respondents anticipate that the pace of digital banking adoption will accelerate over the next five years, fewer than half (47%) reported that they do not know how their businesses would adapt to that shift. Fewer than four in ten of those surveyed indicated they are actively implementing use cases for digital finance.
Readiness gap across digital finance segments
The report covers a range of digital finance areas, including digital payments, cryptocurrency, stablecoins, and mobile banking. According to HSBC, firms are increasingly investing in these segments with the aim of modernising systems, reducing costs, and gaining market share. Advancements in AI have further accelerated these efforts.
For institutional investors specifically, the survey found that close to half are restructuring client portfolios to increase exposure to artificial intelligence and technology. However, the findings suggest that strategic interest has not translated into equivalent operational preparation across the broader respondent base.
Private capital projected as dominant force by 2035
Looking further ahead, the survey points to a significant shift in the composition of global capital markets. A third of respondents indicated they expect private capital to exert the greatest influence over worldwide capital flows by 2035, compared to one fifth who identified public markets as the likely dominant force.
According to Bloomberg, HSBC attributed this expectation to growing demand for longer-term and more flexible funding structures, a dynamic that reflects broader trends in how institutional and corporate capital is being deployed as traditional market structures evolve.
The findings underscore a tension increasingly visible across the financial services sector: widespread acknowledgement of digital finance's trajectory, paired with limited concrete action at the organisational level.
