The retail and wholesale banking sector is the leading adopter of secure XML Web Services, according to a survey of European developers released today at Tech.Ed 2002, an industry developer conference in Barcelona.
Developing cost-effective and reliable solutions that demonstrate a clear on investment are the three key drivers for Web Service developers and most investment is in the finance sector. Among the leaders is The Bank of New York (BNY) who has adopted .NET technologies for a key mission-critical application.
In his keynote address at Microsoft Tech.Ed 2002 Europe, Vic Gundotra, General Manager of the .NET Platform Strategy Group at Microsoft Corp highlighted: “There is significant Web services development taking place in the financial sector and it is clear that this industry understands the business value and powerful capabilities that .NET can bring.”
At Tech.Ed 2002 Europe, the world’s premier provider of financial asset servicing solutions, BNY demonstrated the .NET version of its retail fund servicing platform, RUFUS.
Bill Hookings, Head of Retail Funds Product Development from BNY told developers at the conference that whilst through RUFUS, BNY’s European Fund Services Group is already the UK’s leading retail fund service provider, and a major provider of offshore fund services in Dublin and Luxembourg, BNY had embarked on a major IT investment programme to create its next generation fund servicing platform to meet the market’s future needs for pan-European provision.
“As BNY’s European Fund Services group creates a true pan-European retail asset servicing solution, internationalisation is very important, and our developers require applications that can be built quickly and translated fast in the easiest possible way,” Hookings said.
“We had to ensure that our next generation of RUFUS was built on a strategic platform which will provide technical longevity. We believe .NET is that platform. Using Visual Studio .NET, BNY’s developers are able to bring to the table an XML Web services solution that has been developed rapidly and is both flexible and cost effective.
“By developing with C#, the .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET, we have a very rich application running on a modern, scalable mainstream architecture” he added.
Other finance customers who have adopted .NET technologies include Nationwide, Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.
A full case study that details how The Bank of New York is switching to Microsoft .NET for its next major version of its fund servicing solution is available.