September 16, 2009

IBM (NYSE: IBM) unveiled the first unified software platform to help banks be more efficient, improve their flexibility and adapt more easily to new business challenges and regulatory requirements. Part of the IBM Smarter Planet strategy, the new platform enables banks to simplify the modernization, management and monitoring of their technology systems, while lowering risk by avoiding the disruptive business consequences that have characterized these activities in the past.

IBM's banking industry framework gives banks an alternative to the high-risk, rip and replaceable approach. The framework enables a bank's progressive transformation with industry proven data and process models already employed by more than 250 financial institutions.Among the most compelling features of the new IBM framework is that it focuses on the heart of the infrastructure, where the maintenance and management of core banking systems typically account for over half of total IT spending.