Many financial services firms, particularly those that have undergone mergers or acquisitions, can benefit from SOA as they are burdened with legacy data silos, redundant applications, overlapping functionality, brittle proprietary systems, and steep integration costs.

As financial services firms investigate the merits of SOA adoption, wealth management stands out as an example where SOA is having a positive effect. The wealth management business, including banks, broker-dealers, and insurance companies that service high net worth (HNW) clients, has demonstrated how SOA can improve firm efficiencies through improved advisory productivity, decreased IT costs, and increased revenues.