beyond pt 0 23/1
beyond pt 0 23/1
beyond pt 0 23/1
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Figure 2.2<br />
No. of banking employees<br />
50 000<br />
CBA WPAC ANZ NAB<br />
Employee Numbers<br />
45 000<br />
40 000<br />
35 000<br />
30 000<br />
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998<br />
Source: ETC.<br />
2.4 New costs and intermediaries<br />
In order to obtain the cost savings offered by the Internet, the banking<br />
and finance sector is buying significant volumes of IT inputs.<br />
Figure 2.3<br />
Trends in major bank expenditure on IT<br />
$ Million<br />
400<br />
350<br />
300<br />
250<br />
200<br />
150<br />
100<br />
50<br />
CBA WPAC ANZ NAB<br />
0<br />
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998<br />
Source: Banking Annual Reports.<br />
It seems likely that the major banks have raised their IT spending to<br />
accommodate a major upgrade of e-commerce requirements. It is not<br />
clear if they intend to raise spending above these levels or merely to<br />
sustain them, or indeed, if the new capital expenditure round is<br />
now complete.<br />
In order to compete in the Internet market, banks and other financial<br />
sector firms must ensure that consumers are aware of their presence in<br />
this new context. The financial sector is the biggest spender on Internet<br />
advertising in Australia, nearly a quarter of the total spent coming from<br />
the sector. Five of the top-ten online advertisers in 1998 were from the<br />
financial services industry. 7<br />
7 Margaret Banaghan ‘Inside Story – Part two: Cyber retail case studies’, Business Review Weekly, Friday<br />
30 July 1999.<br />
95