Mr. Niclaus Bergmann:

It is key that costs are kept down because this is what benefits clients. A bank normally needs a margin of between 1% and 2% to work in a sustainable way. A central service provider, where all back office functions of a bank can be outsourced, is extremely important for such a system.

For example, there are 390 Sparkassen in Germany, all independent institutions that use one information technology, IT, system provided by a central service provider. Every bank does not have to buy its own IT system, and instead it is shared by 390 institutions, which reduces costs dramatically.