Community Banks Make Lemonade

2009 was not the year that most small banks undertook groundbreaking tech projects, but this year's ranking of the Top Community Bank IT projects found some great examples.

• 1. Union Savings Breaks Security Barriers
• 2. Fauquier Saves a Million
• 3. Hampden's Tellers Capture Images, Savings
• 4. State Bank Brings Ka-Ching to Merchants
• 5. Circle Bank Rounds Up Savings
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Competition Roils Tech Seas

Banking's fundamental business models and regulatory structure have changed, or are about to. "New normal" consumers are expecting innovation and real-time access. Beneath this is a vendor community that's in a flux all its own, with consolidation and enterprise vendors making aggressive plays for the market.

• Oracle: Fearsome Competitor or Permanent Outsider?
• IBM "Frames" Its Approach to Banks
• Microsoft Taps "New Normal" Consumers
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IT Spending Forecast:Spring Thaw?

The financial industry's long winter is presumably in the rear view mirror, but don't expect a day at the beach - in most cases 2010's IT budgets will be a return to 2008 at best. The still-struggling banking industry will keep most investments in new technology on hold for some time, except for those that impact profitable bastions like corporate payments, or are mandated by new regulations.

Innovation's Next Act

American Express' plan to buy Revolution Money, an alternative PIN-based credit card and online P2P payments network that promises greater security, tells you much of what you need to know about bank innovation these days: It's mostly about payments and safety, and the hits that banks have taken during the last two years have left many working quietly on incremental advances while the leaps and bounds are engineered on the fringes and outside the gates.

• The Top 10 People of 2009
• The Top Companies/Technologies of 2009
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Vendors Turn Lemons into Lemonade

We could begin this article with a recap of the dismal global economy the record number of bank failures. But instead some good news: In a year where there were huge structural changes in financial services, the top 100 financial technology firms saw their revenue grow.

• The FinTech 100
• Profiles of the Top 10
• The Top 25 Enterprise Companies in FinTech

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