Now speed is king on the trading floor, banks must optimise their systems’ engineering – or find themselves left behind. Dan Barnes reports.

It is often said that the Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa) is a question of debit, not credit. But TowerGroup estimates that no more than 5% of all EU debit card payments in 2005 will be outside the country of issue.

Banks have taken automation to the extreme in their bid to cut costs. Now when their customers’ problems don’t correlate to the prescribed formulae, the system breaks down – as Chris Skinner discovered recently.

Thorough planning and active IT management are behind the smooth running of ABN AMRO’s latest outsourcing deal, chief information officer Lars Gustavsson tells Dan Barnes.

Badly merged banks are often in danger of going off the rails when service channels continue to work independently. Can SOA keep them on track? Wendy Atkins investigates.

A mergers and acquisitions situation is an ideal one for SOA. Bhuvan Satwah explores these possibilities and outlines some of the benefits.

The future of trading in the wake of regulations such as the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) means more trade reporting – and that means more data. Patrick Burton looks at how IT departments at investment firms are going to cope.

Ray Moore of HSBC discusses the growing importance of the supply chain business to banks and explains why they now need to embrace the financial element.

Ann Cairns of ABN AMRO discusses the impact of the Payment Services Directive on Europe’s payment environment and looks at its far-reaching ramifications.

The drive by both banks and corporates to achieve improved efficiency and best use of working capital is behind the latest technology trends such as greater employment of real-time information. Jules Stewart reports.