Bankers rate Internet banking as top priority, ABA survey finds

Northwestern Financial Review, Mar 15, 2001

An American Bankers Association nationwide survey of top management from 1,034 community banks finds 32.1 percent listing Internet banking as the top technology spending priority, followed by 29.3 percent for core systems and 16.5 percent for training. The same survey reports 30.2 percent of respondents consider software to be the most difficult technology area to budget, followed by equipment (26.1 percent) and maintenance (23.1 percent).

Thirty-five percent of community bankers say they do not make a formal budget for technology. But most banks have a formal strategic plan. Three quarters of the survey respondents said they have a formal plan and 72 percent update it annually. Most bankers - 64 percent - do their strategic planning internally, while the rest use professional consultants (25 percent), accounting firms (6 percent), planning experts or professors (7 percent) to help them.