'It is not only at the smaller end of the market where an outsourced core can be advantageous. Dutch banking group, Rabobank, uses Callataÿ & Wouters’ (C&W) Thaler on a hosted basis for its direct banking operations (IBS, March 2006).
"Right from the beginning Rabobank said it was not going to take care of the hosting and the infrastructure itself," says C&W CEO, Marc De Groote. "It understood right from the start that it is about costs, but it is also about having the appropriate organisation to support something like a direct banking environment."
Supporting the 24x7 needs of direct banking is something that De Groote believes was behind the decision to outsource the core. ‘This is a skill that is not necessarily the skill of the bank. It is not the business of a bank to take care of that." '