Lloyds Banking Group completes 'immense' Halifax system migration

This kind of project seldom grabs the headlines and is unlikely to raise more than a stifled yawn in most circles - so they just reformatted some data, right?

But imagine all the different bank accounts governed by different legal contracts with different rules (interest rate calculations, overdraft rules, penalties, etc). Imagine the complexities of accurately identifying duplicate customers in different systems. Imagine the logistics of switching over without downtime. Imagine the staff training and customer communication. Imagine the consequences of getting it wrong.

Now try to do all that in the midst of all the politics that comes with a merger and then end up with a system that not only consolidates all 30m accounts but is also flexible enough to serve as a platform for growth.

Startups don't have a monopoly on challenging engineering projects!