Introduction
 
This report presents the views of 100 business and technology decision-makers in the retail banking sector, drilling down into IT strategy drivers and pinpointing key investment areas for 2005
 

 
Scope
 
Based on 100 interviews with European retail banks
 
Coverage of all the main Western European markets: Benelux, France, Germany, Italy, Nordics, Spain, UK
 
Highlights
 
retail banks are adopting a cautious growth strategy using a ``defend and grow`` approach keeping lean whilst selectively pursuing growth opportunities
 

 
Investment in compliance is continuing to grow as the Basel II deadlines nears. While top tier banks tend to be already well advanced in their compliance investment, smaller, less prepared banks, are considering it amongst their top 3 IT projects for 2005
 

 
67% of banks rely on directly on the software assets of vendors for their core systems with over half of those using a pure package core systems solution and the rest using a combination of package and home grown solutions
 

 
Reasons to Purchase
 
Understand rapidly changing trends in end-user opinion to determine your go to market strategy
 
Use robust primary data to plan your 2004 strategy with confidence