How resilient is your internet banking? IT issues plague all online industries, and internet banking is not immune. John Lyons, PwC UK Banking/Technology Resilience partner, says there are a couple of reasons why online banking is not as resilient as what it should be.

Firstly the banks have plonked newer systems on top of their legacy systems designed back in the 60’s and 70’s. The untidy integration of their systems have led to an exceptionally difficult IT system to navigate.

Secondly, due to the financial crisis, banks are trying to improve their balance sheets by cutting costs. Thus they tend to outsource their IT needs when the in-house IT departments get trimmed. Reinvestment in internet banking technology doesn’t even cross their minds.

Lyon argues that banks require a mind-set change, where IT resilience is no longer seen as only the IT department’s problem. It should be viewed as a business matter and be addressed by the highest of board members. If they want zero down time, it will mean coughing up quite a large sum of money.

[ Source : MoneyWeb ]