Banks prove web services pioneers

The western European banking sector is cautiously moving towards web services, according to analyst IDC.

Research conducted by the analyst showed that financial services companies have adopted a pragmatic approach and are cautious about implementing large projects but want the benefits web services are expected to deliver.

XML and web interfaces are increasingly being used to manage horizontal and vertical applications, showing that financial institutions plan to standardise and simplify access to their applications and increase interoperability among different systems, IDC said.

"This is due to the strong commitment to streamlining processes to reach the holy grail of straight-through processing," explained Mirko Corbetta, research analyst in IDC's financial services research group.

Brokers and securities firms are expected to offer the best opportunities to IT vendors in future, due to their plans for a high number of XML investment in the next two years.

But limited demonstration of strong return on investment and a lack of executive management support and project funding are still holding back web services adoption, the survey found.