General Developments in Retail Banking and the Retail Industry

Although it was not possible to predict at the beginning of the fiscal year that the financial crisis, which was initially restricted to the U.S., would evolve into a global crisis for the real economy, Wincor Nixdorf’s own assessments of the trends within retail banking and the retail industry largely proved to be correct, with the situation in both industries deteriorating and prompting a general reluctance to invest. However, it was the scale of this downturn in investment that we could not foresee at the beginning of the reporting year. Despite this, the fundamental trends in both industries are still in place, and both banks and retailers remain determined to make additional, ongoing cost reductions in all their business processes while striving to be even more customer-friendly. As a result, those companies in a stronger financial position did continue to invest. Irrespective of investment, the market for IT services proved to be more resistant to the crisis than many parts of the hardware business. According to a survey conducted by the American market research firm Gartner for 2009, net sales from global IT services are expected to decline by “only” 5.6% compared to 2008. Service contracts, which usually run over several years, are also an important factor in stabilizing this market. (Gartner, IT Spending Forecast; 2Q 2009 Update, June 2009).