With Western European retail banking markets looking ever more competitive, many banks are looking to the EU accession countries of Central and Eastern Europe for growth opportunities. This report will examine the key issues and trends faced by banks in CEE region, and their implications for technology vendors in this market.

• Coverage of all the major Central and Eastern European markets
• Provides in depth discussion of technology drivers and trends in the current and future market
• Includes IT spending forecasts to 2008 by country and source.

In larger and less developed markets, the current focus is on increasing number of customers and market share, while in more mature markets the focus is on maximizing product market share, e.g. by introducing and growing new products, such as consumer finance, bancassurance and more complex products.

Banks must be careful not to follow Western European banks' development cycle, for example, down the route of siloed channels, but rather to learn from this to develop a holistic strategy, centered around a 360o view of the customer which will facilitate cross-sales and seamless customer service, while reducing costs by centralizing processes.

A few banks have managed to establish a footprint in multiple markets and are heavily dependent on the CEE region for future growth. Over the coming years they will be looking to fully consolidate these acquisitions and create a regional platform, both to absorb future M&A activity and ramp up to being competitive on pan-European level.

• Size your addressable market to 2008
• Gain a competitive advantage through the detailed knowledge of banking technology in CEE
• Inform your go-to-market strategy with Datamonitor's analysis of key business and technology issues.