Finance firms slow to use IT

Still relying on manual systems

A significant number of financial services firms are still relying on manual transaction processing systems, according to an Accenture-sponsored survey.

Some 78 per cent of 120 finance executives questioned cited the need to improve operational efficiency as their biggest challenge, but just 15 per cent have fully automated the majority of their accounts.

Forty per cent of respondents said there was a lack of awareness in their businesses about what technology could do to improve transaction processing.

'Finance executives are challenged to reduce the time and cost to process transactions, but are not widely embracing technology to achieve change,' said Anoop Sagoo, a partner at Accenture Finance Solutions.