E-commerce is having a profound affect on all walks of life. The transforming powers of the Internet are still evolving and awaiting full recognition, as is evident by the current teething pains of many Dot.Com businesses.

The financial services industry has acknowledged the huge opportunity e-commerce presents and the threat that such a fusion of technologies brings to the status quo. Editors and journalists of major financial and economic newspapers and magazines, continue to highlight the dimensions of the threat and the dilemmas the internet poses to current investment banking business models and (projected) revenues.

The past two years has witnessed a steady stream of Dot.Com start-ups introducing online financial services. They systematically chose to target and siphon-off specific investment banking products to the dismay and loss of revenue of the large investment banks. IPOs, M&A, FX, Trade Financing, Bonds and Share Trading, to mention a few, have been introduced and are available online. The range of investment banking products coming online is increasing. Almost all are providing limited stand-alone online products and services.

Independent analyst are forecasting that major investment banks will suffer further noticeable erosion in their investment banking activities in the coming months. They project that a small number of the existing single-product, stand-alone online service providers will be taken over by larger investment bank; the others will cease to exist.