For the past 20 years banks have constructed ever more elaborate IT systems, which have rarely boosted profits. They must now replace them with simpler, cheaper infrastructures, says Nicholas Carr.

Successful initiatives for bank transformation are those that target specific business process functions and effect lasting and fundamental change.

Technology exploitation is central to a bank and its management team but too many UK businesses lack a technologist implanted firmly on the executive board, let alone as CEO.By Chris Skinner.

Growing volumes of orders and trades will require faster processing and increased capacity in both banks and exchanges, says Dan Barnes.
As black box/algorithmic trading pushes data volumes through the roof and venue competition grows, order-processing speed and capacity must be increased to compete in the securities game.

Denmark’s Saxo Bank is 50% bank and 50% technology company, says its chief information officer. He tells Dan Barnes why this hybrid has been so successful.

Banks are under pressure to review the role that IT plays in their organisation, and make tough choices about service provision and structure, as Dan Barnes reports.

Participants in the Paris round table, chaired by François Vidal, head of Les Echos finance department, discuss their approaches to cost-cutting and outsourcing.

Participants in a London round table, hosted by Accenture and The Banker, and chaired by Chris Skinner, discuss the precarious state of IT alignment within a business, and the role of outsourcing.

Business process management (BPM) tools continue to show significant traction in the banking industry.

Customer complaints cost banks dearly in loss of loyalty and client profits. In some cases the banks only have themselves to blame for encouraging thoughtless responses to customers’ concerns.By Chris Skinner.