Towards the plug ‘n’ play bank

Financial web sites are no longer little more than electronic advertisements. Investment banks want to offer their clients meaty services - pricing models, account-management tools, databases of trades, perhaps even real-time trading. Security is a declining problem but there are still bandwidth limitations to contend with. However, at least one bank reckons it can reduce its own costs if clients can get straight to data rather than deal with customer services. Andy Webb reports.

Although the financial community has been quick to embrace the Internet, two major handicaps are impeding fuller use of it – security and reliability. Most banks have moved beyond putting simple brochureware on their World Wide Web sites and are publishing their research as well. The next step in the process – about a year ago it was the source of many brave words about what could be achieved – is to use the medium for transactions.

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