| dc.description.abstract | In 1990’s, the structure of global financial industry had been changed enormously. The bounds among banks, securities, insurance companies had been broken by the enactment of Financial Holding Company (FHC). The merger of financial institutions has become one of the most important topics in financial industry during the past decades. These global M&A trends also had impacts on Taiwan. The year 2002 was the most changeful and tough year in financial industry. Until now, there have been 14 financial holdings established in Taiwan.
Information technology (IT) has become the most important tool in daily business operation in all kinds of industries, and banking industry is without exception. How to create synergy via integrating the information systems from all subsidies is the toughest challenge faced by every financial holding company, especially when absorbing a bank from outside. It is a massive work to construct different operation systems, platforms, and databases, and the complexity is unthinkable.
This case study is divided into two parts. The first part is a Japan’s bank merger case, Mizuho Financial Group (MFG), and a comparison case, Shinsei Bank, which hasn’t experienced the bank merger but has been reformed via IT and personnel system reformation. The second parts are two Taiwan’s bank merger cases, which are Cathay United Bank and Taipei-Fubon Bank under two financial holding companies.
One of these challenges happened during the process of bank merger is the integration of different information computer system. Top managers always put the stress on IT integration, but what on earth the role played by IT is. Do banks have risks on putting the cart before the house owing to too much focusing on IT? There are still other important things we have to pay attention on, like personnel integration, execution, the speed of integration, and so on. By interviewing with the leaders of MIS and second-hand materials, we could find more details about bank merger.
From this research, we could come to the conclusions as follows:
1. No matter what kind of computer systems or methods of IT integration being chosen, there is no optimum solution or method which is suitable for every bank merger case. A bank should choose the most suitable method of IT integration for itself.
2. The key success factors of IT integration during bank merger are related to “people”, including:
(1) How to plan the schedule of IT integration process is very important.
(2) The steps of schedule must be under control and prevent the schedule from delay.
(3) The preparation and tests of new computer system before formal merger must be completed perfectly and flawless.
(4) The support form top management must be sufficient and steady.
(5) The MIS manager must have leadership and be good at negotiation in team-work.
(6) The IT and non-IT members could coordinate and communicate with each other, and understand each other well.
(7) All staffs from different departments could team work with each other, and everyone concentrates on the goal and does his best to make it come true.
(8) The enterprise culture must be with execution and resbonsibility.
3. In fact, the bank merger is a destruction of creativity, and it brings the reformation to all parts of a company, including IT integration and reconstruction. As the MIS manager of Taipei-Fubon Bank pointed out, bank merger is a driver for banks to do IT integration and reformation, and the role IT plays in bank merger is a connection, which brings and promotes the integration of enterprise culture, personnel, business process, etc. | en_US |