The use of technology in the financial markets is the key to the
growth in the volumes of business. Without the advances in
technology providing everything from electronic trading systems to
Internet banking there would be no globalization of activity and no
large, global investment banks. The impact that technology has had
and is still having on the operations function is truly substantial.
Paper has been drastically reduced or eradicated from the settlement
and clearing processes. Significant amounts of information and
instructions are sent electronically and today the crucial areas of
control and risk management are heavily dependent on electronically
generated data.