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After years of very visible emphasis on retail Business-to-Consumer (B2C) opportunities, Financial Institutions (FIs) of all kinds are waking up to the fact that core groups of profitable business customers now want and need financial products delivered electronically, supporting their own and their trading partners' e-business activities. Rather than allow fast-moving technology upstarts to usurp their traditional role, FIs are zealously embracing new products, developing others, and covering their bets with investments in competing products and firms so they won't be left at the starting gate.

At stake is their piece - commissions, fees, and point spreads - of overall B2B spending. And FIs aren't being shy about grabbing for as much as they can get. It's too early to declare any winners. But the next 12 to 24 months are critical in determining which FIs, applications, and technology providers will lead.