Generally accepted wisdom from the major industry analysts five years ago was that financial institutions spent 65c of every rand on keeping the lights on, leaving 35c for discretionary spend, preferably on new technologies to make them more efficient. Post the global economic crisis, banks have been under increasing pressure from all quarters: they need to offer a rich end-user experience, decent ROI for shareholders, transparency and predictability for top management and faster response to regulatory bodies. On the one hand, there is a continuous push to reduce costs, on the other, bank CIOs need to create funding for future innovations.

So where do they find the money? Chandima Miyandeniya, CIO of AON South Africa, explains.