FROM BANK SYSTEMS & TECHNOLOGY ONLINE…
Heading technology for a bank that is bent on branch expansion is no laughing matter—even if you are a distant relative of a certain comedian. Yet, Commerce Bank ($36 billion in assets) CIO Kent Seinfeld says he lives for the challenge.
“There is never, never a dull moment,” Seinfeld says of his job. “The growth is on many different axes – I have to try to anticipate all the barriers so they don’t stop us. Having to think about this all the time is what people like me live for.”
The former mainframe techie has held CIO roles at other banks, and Seinfeld says the job is more or less the same from institution to institution. “The only difference is the growth rate [at Commerce],” he explains. “We don’t really grow through acquisitions—it’s mostly organic.”
 |
|
Seinfeld oversees a staff of about 400 people in what he describes as a fairly classically organized IT department. The bank does not do much systems development in-house, preferring to buy solutions from vendors. However, the infrastructure and its servicing are kept inside the bank.
