Financial Svcs bouncing back for Capgemini

BANGALORE (Reuters): Capgemini SA is seeing some recovery in its financial services business as clients look to cut costs and boost growth, and the pricing environment is stable, as a senior official recently commented.

Europe's largest computer consultancy is looking to boost Asia-Pacific's contribution to revenue to five per cent in three years, said Salil Parekh, global head of Capgemini's financial services and CEO of Asia-Pacific business units.

Asia Pacific brought in about 1.5 per cent of Capgemini's total revenue in the first half of this year.

"In financial services, we have started to see some level of recovery already in the later half of this year, and certainly we are hoping to see some of that in 2010," Parekh told Reuters in an interview.

"Recovery is not like a quick, rapid recovery. It's coming together across the world in a slow fashion," he said. "My guess is if we start to see growth coming back within 12 months, pricing should be back."

Capgemini cut its 2009 sales outlook in July, saying it was unsure signs that activity might be stabilising in some regions would translate into a full-blown recovery for the battered technology sector.