The major overhauls of core banking IT across Europe in the next three years will be driven by the need to replace inflexible systems that cannot cope with the many changes facing the industry, according to a new survey.

The Trends in Core Banking Software Requirements survey questioned more than 500 banks in 20 European countries about their systems requirements for trade finance treasury, retail, and corporate banking. IBS Intelligence, on behalf of IT and software providers I-flex and Trema, carried out the survey. The report found that the majority of banks tend towards using Windows or Unix as the preferred platforms for replacement solutions.