This article from Financetech is well worth the read.  I find this quote incredible “Manuel Barbero, BearingPoint: SOA enables faster, cheaper application integration. It exists thanks to the adoption of Web-related technologies and constructs that make applications talk to one another in a standardized manner”.

Faster & cheaper?  I would like to know the bank that is seeing that result.  No question its the right thing, but its a slow painstaking process, as the costs of development are continually held up against the requirement for revenue.  This is consultantspeak at its worst.

The emergence of service-oriented architecture and grid computing offers banks the promise of a flexible, scalable IT infrastructure. But creating an open architecture doesn’t come without challenges, such as upgrading legacy systems and changing established behaviors.
By Peggy Bresnick Kendler
February 27, 2006