Egg cracks Java and .net strategy

A customer-focused IT system, based on a service oriented architecture, has been key to the success of internet-only bank Egg.

Egg, now owned by Citigroup UK, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, has developed its own banking platform based on a service oriented architecture, which means it is not tied to SOA platforms like Microsoft .net or Java.

Speaking to Computer Weekly, Ken Woghiren, head of architecture and innovation at Citigroup UK, said: "We needed this architecture to harness existing banking platforms, adding sophisticated middleware to create a service tier, allowing a customer centred top tier."

Egg started with a system called Top End, which was bought by BEA. Four years ago, the bank moved onto Microsoft .net and active server pages. Now that it is owned by Citigroup, Egg is moving the banking platform to a Java platform.

The advent of web services has eased compatibility issues. "The service tier is used to communicate with the back end. Web services allow you to be technology agnostic. I don't lose sleep ever compatibility anymore, so long as everything is written to the web services standards."