Gartner Survey Shows U.S. Banks Rank CheckFree, Corillian, Microsoft and S1 as Top Consumer E-Banking Vendors

Business Wire, Dec 17, 2002

Business Editors

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 17, 2002

Microsoft Threatens Intuit's Dominance in Bank Personal Financial

Management Software Market

As customer demand continues to drive the growth of online banking, U.S. banks named S1, Microsoft, CheckFree and Corillian as the most important vendors to their consumer e-banking strategies, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB).

In a September 2002 Gartner survey of 193 U.S. banks of various sizes, S1 was ranked the most important vendor to banks' overall consumer e-banking strategies by 18 percent of respondents, while Microsoft ranked second with 13 percent. CheckFree ranked third with 9 percent and Corillian ranked fourth with 6 percent.

Another finding of the survey was that Microsoft has made significant progress selling personal financial management and other software to U.S. banks, which could eventually threaten Intuit's dominance in this market.

"Despite Microsoft's high ranking, it currently only has 27 percent of bank market share for personal financial management software, while Intuit holds 54 percent," said Avivah Litan, vice president and research director for Gartner. "However, the survey data suggests that Microsoft's bank software market share will grow, while Intuit's may be stagnating."

On a scale of one to seven, with seven being the most important, banks rated Microsoft at 5.1 in strategic importance and Intuit at 4.3.

"Microsoft offers banks much more than Intuit can," said Litan. "Microsoft offers a broad range of financial applications on top of its core technology solutions, and that makes it an attractive vendor for banks to work with."

IT spending in the banking industry is expected to rise 4.5 percent in 2003, rebounding from a 14.8 percent drop in 2002. Although there will ample opportunities for vendors, the saturated online banking and e-banking support market will continue to consolidate, and several more vendors will be acquired, according to Gartner.

Gartner advises that vendors focus on selling established bank customers more functionality and applications, in addition to winning new bank customers whose current online banking contracts are expiring.

"Price will be a key differentiator of vendors in 2003, putting enormous pressure on them to continue to reduce fees," Litan said. "Banks must also focus on channel integration in 2003, to ensure online banking applications are tightly integrated with branch, telephone support and ATM networks."

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc., is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 10,500 clients leverage technology to achieve business success. Gartner's businesses consist of Research, Consulting, Measurement, Events and Executive Programs. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Conn., and has 4,000 associates, including more than 1,000 research analysts and consultants, in more than 75 locations worldwide. Fiscal 2002 revenue totaled $907 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com .