Computer Weekly at 60: How computers changed banking

Computer Weekly marks its 60th anniversary on 22 September 2026 with a review of how computing has altered banking since 1966. The review traces changes from early mainframes that handled ledgers inside banks to services customers now access directly online and by mobile.

When Computer Weekly launched in 1966, banks were moving bookkeeping from paper ledgers to early mainframe systems. Those systems ran inside banks and were operated by staff. Over subsequent decades, banks digitised operations, customers gained personal computing devices and secure networks such as the internet and mobile systems connected users to bank systems.

James Martin, a banking technology veteran who began reading Computer Weekly in the 1980s and started working in banking technology in the 1990s, described how back-office work was automated to improve efficiency and scale while customer channels shifted from branches and post to online and mobile services. Granting customers external access created self-service around the clock and exposed systems to public view and external attack.

Martin recalled, “There was nowhere to hide when systems went wrong,” noting that outages and incidents are now visible to customers and regulators. He linked the move to public networks with a sustained cybersecurity threat that targets banks and their clients.

Technology also enabled cross-border payments through card networks and connected systems that route transactions between jurisdictions, subject to regulation and sanctions. Secure remote access and video communications tools have supported distributed teams and helped banks maintain operations during business continuity incidents.

On automation and artificial intelligence, Martin questioned whether fully autonomous banks are desirable and argued for human accountability in decisions that affect people and the economy. He asked, “Should machines have the authority to make decisions that impact people’s lives, society and the economy?” He added that humans must retain a controlling role.

Martin identified customer confidence as a principal risk in digital banking. He said persistent outages or incidents could prompt customers to hold accounts and payment methods at multiple providers or to keep cash reserves. He warned that common networks, shared infrastructure and widely used software can create single points of systemic failure that individual precautions cannot eliminate.

He also pointed to risks from increased speed of software delivery and automation. Faster deployment and complex change processes can introduce mistakes that cause outages or weaken security if not managed carefully.

Computer Weekly has followed these developments since 1966 and collected reflections from experts, parliamentarians, IT leaders and suppliers as part of its 60th-anniversary coverage.