Attending the conference in Tucson, AZ, were 135 banking executives representing 72 national and regional banks from around the United States.

One of the key findings of the survey is the extent to which regulation and compliance has become banker's top concern. Among those surveyed, 30% said that compliance was their most significant business challenge. This compares to 20% who rated "growth" and 11% that rated "cost reduction" highest. Further to these results, 61% said that the new Sarbanes-Oxley regulation has vastly changed their operating procedures. This is directly reflected by 69% of respondents saying that they have internal compliance audits 1-2 times per year, while 28% have them 3 or more times per annum.

Other key findings:

64% said that wire initiation is the service that generates the highest revenue for their bank, when compared to other typical treasury management services such as "positive pay", "ACH" and "stop payment".

75% said that they are getting a significant amount of competition in their market from global banks.

75% said that their management allows 24 months or longer to reach an ROI on large capital investments.

Mike Sgroe, Fundtech's president and COO, commented: "Our annual Client Conference in the US is a key event for Fundtech, as it enables us to better understand our customers' opinions on industry challenges and trends. By sharing these with us, our customers allow us to work on solutions that truly answer the issues they're facing."