A poll of Isitc (International Securities Association for Institutional Trade Communication) members revels that 40% think adhering to new regulations is their highest priority for 2012.

Meanwhile, 45% agree that regulation will have the greatest impact on operational risk management and 43% believe adhering to these new rules will have the greatest impact on their overall operations.

Despite the challenges, around two thirds of respondents think that the financial crisis has prompted the industry to improve infrastructure and processes. Nearly 90% think that some progress towards improving standards by adopting best practice has been made.

However, more generally, the economic outlook is still gloomy, with 45% suspecting that a real recovery is not imminent and instead we will continue to see slow growth. Uncertainty reigns, with 82% of respondents stating that the vision for the future of the industry is "cloudy" and that it's unclear as to what the market will look like in 2020.

Jan Snitzer, chair, Isitc, says: "What is clear is that although progress has been made in improving our industry's infrastructure and processes, there is still much room for us to improve. Isitc's mission is to make the industry less 'cloudy' and more 'clear' through developing industry best practices and standards."