In the boardrooms of investment banks today, there are two burning issues that have kept their importance over the past five years and still look set to influence and shape capital markets well into the future. They are the internet, and the move to real-time processing.

While the debate has raged about internet security and fears of disintermediation, the internet has quietly become more accepted. Insistence on the superior security and speed of leased lines over the uncertainty of the unregulated public internet has been quelled by the overwhelming arguments citing the lower costs and growth of intranet solutions.