Canada91裸聊视频檚 big banks are undergoing a migration.

Faced with rising competition from startups, higher expectations from consumers and the increased digital demands of COVID-19, experts say banks are speeding up a monumental shift of operations to the cloud from legacy computer systems.

The move had started before the pandemic, but the sudden closure of branches and offices in March 2020 forced banks to rely even more on online systems and prompted the acceleration, said Robert Vokes, managing director of financial services for Canada at Accenture.

91裸聊视频淲hat happened was in March of last year, all of a sudden people realized, 91裸聊视频極h my gosh, I91裸聊视频檝e got to go a lot faster.91裸聊视频� That was the big wake-up call.91裸聊视频�

Cloud-based systems, sometimes run privately by banks and more commonly by third-party tech giants, allows data to move faster and more freely, and gives banks the potential for more customization for each customer, more automation, as well as potential cost savings.

Such promises have been around since the dot-com bubble, said Vokes, but the hardware has only in recent years been up to the task.

91裸聊视频淲e didn91裸聊视频檛 really have the scalable technologies, and now those technologies have caught up.91裸聊视频�

Several banks made major cloud commitments in recent months, including CIBC91裸聊视频檚 deal with Microsoft91裸聊视频檚 Azure, Scotiabank reaching a deal with Google Cloud, and BMO partnering with Amazon Web Services as they all push for 91裸聊视频渃loud-first91裸聊视频� strategies.

BMO recently completed its first major system shift since the Amazon partnership by moving its entire transportation finance operations to the cloud, which involved shifting about a thousand servers91裸聊视频� worth of data.

The bank made the move because it was finally convinced the cloud infrastructure was established and reliable enough, said Sid Deloatch, chief information and operations officer for North American commercial banking at BMO.

91裸聊视频淲e had to reach that threshold of expectation, and we feel it exists and we91裸聊视频檙e very confident that it exists now, and that91裸聊视频檚 why we91裸聊视频檙e moving forward.91裸聊视频�

The shift creates the ability for BMO to offer automatic loan decisions in many cases, as well as save upwards of 30 per cent on operating costs, he said.

Along with waiting to be confident in new systems, banks have also been held backby the patchwork of legacy systems built up over decades, said Sanjay Pathak, head of technology strategy and digital transformation at PwC.

91裸聊视频淯ntangling current operations from some old technology is very, very complex and it can be very risky and disruptive to business.91裸聊视频�

He said getting executives to the right mindset alone has been a challenge, since it means letting go of the control of the underlying infrastructure built up over decades.

But banks can no longer delay since they91裸聊视频檙e feeling both consumer pressures, as well as expectations from employees for more seamless processes, said Pathak.

Smaller banks without extensive legacy systems have been able to move faster, such as EQ Bank shifting its entire system to the cloud in 2019, while new startup financial companies have the advantage of starting out on the cloud and forcing banks to respond.

91裸聊视频淭here91裸聊视频檚 this great pressure being exerted on financial services from fintechs, and fintechs are often born on the cloud. They move quite quickly, they91裸聊视频檙e doing fully digital capabilities,91裸聊视频� said Hillery Hunter, chief technology officer at IBM Cloud.

She said banks are moving more core systems on to the cloud because so many data sources need to be integrated and readily available to be able to make things like instant loan decisions happen.

91裸聊视频�(Consumers have) all become quite impatient and we expect things to be instantly available.91裸聊视频�

However, the increasing reliance on third parties to host so much of the bank91裸聊视频檚 operations, including personal financial data, is raising concerns from regulators.

The Bank of England said in October that additional policy measures are likely needed to 91裸聊视频渕itigate the financial stability risks stemming from concentration in the provision of some third-party services.91裸聊视频�

Canada91裸聊视频檚 banking regulator released draft guidelines on tech and cyber risks earlier this month that said banks should plan exit strategies from third-party cloud providers, and make sure they can switch data from one cloud provider to another. It plans to release more specific third-party guidelines early next year.

But while the main concerns now are about data security and making sure big tech companies don91裸聊视频檛 have too much power in dictating terms of service, competition may emerge as a threat as well, said Pathak, because the big tech companies have both the scale and the speed to become a threat.

91裸聊视频淭here91裸聊视频檚 an increasing tension, I think, around cloud providers also becoming competitors 91裸聊视频� that91裸聊视频檚 a real threat to the banks.91裸聊视频�

Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press

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