A shift is under way in the planning for the continuing merger of St George Bank with Westpac, with the IT pathway toward developing  a new core banking system  up for review - especially the cost.Projects identified as priorities and well funded only a year ago have lost funding. How many, and which exactly, we would like the bank to say. There are sufficient to be meaningful.The use of the CSC-refreshed version of the Hogan banking platform for deposits is one project on the back burner.Other affected projects include personal loans, credit cards and home loans.At issue is what service standards Westpac would really like to deliver, and can deliver, in the future.Management must realise that a bank churning the gears of an outdated business model has to change.Westpac's ten-year $4.3 billion outsourcing arrangement with IBM draws to an end this year, making the time particularly ripe for a review of all the IT plans currently on the drawing board.The bank has completed some key projects, notably a general ledger for treasury and payroll. It is also rolling out the St George Spider teller system across Westpac. Earlier this year it selected Fiserv's Corillan and Voyager software to develop an online banking platform for Westpac, St George and Bank SA. These projects are understood to be progressing apace.One IT project not on the original Westpac project list for the St George merger may now be coming to the fore.Batch processing, unbelievably, remains the starter engine of banking systems, with customers of Westpac (and all banks) obliged to wait hours (and days, over the weekend) for payments processed through a batch system.This is an industry-wide problem. Pressure to address it comes from customers, rivals (mainly CBA) and regulators.Banks that are able to develop and roll out real-time transaction processing systems will have a much keener understanding of their market positions, reduce their risk exposure, and provide much better service to clients. All of which would deliver a competitive edge.These are some of the issues understood to be currently up for consideration by Westpac CIO, Bob McKinnon, as he and his team run a ruler over the progress of the $350 million five-year plan to integrate Westpac and St George's IT, and look to develop an IT platform that will allow the bank to be a vigorous competitor in the coming decade.