Can we bank on Jim?
Contracts have been awarded for the IT infrastructure of the proposed NZ Post-run “people’s bank”. If you were starting afresh with a new bank, as the government is doing, how would you “future-proof” it? Would you use off-the-shelf software or roll your own? How far would you take electronic banking? What are the possibilities for open source and thin-client technologies? And how does this state-of-the-art wonder-bank compare with what is actually planned by NZ Post? Claire Matthews, acting director of the centre for banking studies at Massey University, and computer consultant Allan Smee take a good look.