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Design by committee - multiple departments with a say in the final product.

Probably the same reason that just about all large companies have annoying websites. Something to do with large companies being terrible at anything which isn't the core of their business.

I'm currently working on similar software to what a lot of banks use. The user interface is given very very low priority. It's kind of sad.

I'm working on the back-end side of things (the money must add up! otherwise the accountants get grumpy) but would love to see more innovation on the interface side of things.

I have developed web and desktop applications for a bank ... "Design" is just considered eye candy and it is not in the specification document.