Bankers Worry B&C Woes Could Spill Over Beyond Housing Sector.

New York -- Financial services industry executives cite the cost, risk and burden of regulatory compliance as their top concern these days, according to a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers during the company's annual forum.

But the executives gathering for PwC's recent financial services forum also expressed concern about fallout from the subprime mortgage meltdown.

While only 10% said the decline in the housing market would be the biggest challenge facing their organization over the next two to three years, 30% said they were concerned or extremely concerned about adverse impacts that the turmoil in the subprime mortgage market could have on their organization, according to PwC.

The plurality, or 49%, said they were only "somewhat" concerned about the subprime mortgage issue. Another 21% said they were completely unconcerned by it.

Other leading challenges cited by the industry over the next two to three years included the "decline of U.S. competitiveness" and "competition for talent."

PwC noted that concern about declining U.S. economic competitiveness has increased significantly since last year's forum.

"Financial services firms operate in an increasingly complex and heavily regulated environment, on in which the bar is high, by design, to ensure the highest level of investor protections. The rigor of compliance and controls has helped make our capital markets system one of the strongest in the world," said Timothy Ryan, chairman of the ...