Enterprise Applications and Services in the Finance Industry

2008wasa disastrousyear for the ?nancial servicesindustry. Likean earthquake that measured 10+ on the Richter scale, the industry and the markets were globallyseverelyshaken-many?nancialinstitutions wentbankrupt, weretaken overormade useofmassivestateguaranteesandequityinjections. Governments allover,theglobeannouncedbankrescuepackagesinstaggeringheights. So,the traditional investment banking type of market structure and its dominance is gone-what's next? In these rough months it has become obvious how important a functioning ?nancial system is in our globalized world with interrelated markets and ind- tries. Unsurprisingly these eruptions have also hit the real economy and many countries are currently in a deep recession all over the globe. However, as a proverb has it: "If nothing is secure, everything is possible". Maybe the current status of the ?nancial markets allows for the introduction of better rules and regulations and is the starting point for a di?erent sustainable development of ?nancial systems and economies. Providing for new perspectives and insights, constructive but critical analysis, while being on the quest for truth is a primary taskofresearch. Especiallyintimeswhen policyanddecisionmakersarelooking for guidance, it is important that research provides for rigorous and at the same time relevant results. This is also one objective of the workshop series on enterprise applications and services in the ?nance industry (FinanceCom). After three very successful workshops in Sydney (Australia), Regensburg (Germany, co-located with ECIS 2005),andMontreal(Canada,co-locatedwithICIS2007),FinanceCom2008was held on December 13, 2008 in Paris in co-location with ICIS 2008. The wo- shop spans multiple disciplines, including technical, economic, sociological and behavioralsciences.