Core banking upgrade starting to deliver 12 August 2010 4:57PM John Kavanagh Commonwealth Bank spent $595 million on growth projects over the past year. A large chunk of that money went to the core banking system modernisation that has been under way for the past couple of years.Development of the system, which the bank describes as the biggest core banking system upgrade in the world, passed a milestone this year when 1.1 million term deposits moved to the new system. Retail deposits will have been moved by the end of the year. Lending products are scheduled to move by the middle of 2012.The claimed benefits of the new system are real-time banking, customised product offers and faster speed to market.CBA chief executive Ralph Norris said the back office processing of mortgage applications was now paperless and could be completed in six days, compared to 18 days previously.