The rapidly changing banking industry is creating new systems requirements all the time. Users increasingly want multiple forms of access to their accounts from many more devices (ATMs, smartphones, Internet computers, contactless swipe cards, etc.) than ever before. And there is a constant need to bring new products and services to market to retain existing customers and add newer ones.

In the Asia-Pacific market, changes to the industry are explosive. Card transactions (credit, debit, charge, and other payment cards) alone shot up 158 percent to $1.8 trillion from 2004 to 2009, according to a recent USA Today article. And in countries (like South Korea) where credit cards were already widely used, mobile phone payments are helping to drive additional credit card account transactions today.

At the same time, customers want more personalized services. In many banking organizations, such services are sometimes hard to provide because the customer accounts and CRM applications are not seamlessly integrated.

Eyeing these trends, Kookmin Bank, Korea’s largest banking institution, started exploring solutions a few years ago to meet anticipated systems needs. Last year, it initiated a bank-wide project to consolidate all of the bank's different business units across the world. At the heart of the effort was the desire to provide a highly flexible and secure platform that would allow the bank to transform into a leading global bank of the future.

To that end, IBM last year announced that the bank made the decision to adopt IBM System z10 as the platform for its next-generation core banking application system. At the time of the announcement, the hope was through the adoption of IBM System z10, the bank would have a world-class, customer service-oriented IT infrastructure and gain a footing to upgrade its financial operations based on cutting-edge technology. In addition, the consolidation and adoption of the IBM System z10 would support the bank's strategy of building a smarter IT environment that drives cost effectiveness and energy efficiency.

Tomorrow, in part two of this story, we’ll see where the project stands today.