Understanding IT Governance: A Case of Two Financial Mutuals

Legislators, regulators, and shareholders increasingly demand good governance over all aspects of their business. While much is made of financial governance, most legislation and regulation implicitly recognizes the need for prudent governance of information technology (IT) functions. In this study we conduct an exploratory collective case study of IT governance (ITG) in two financial mutuals one in Australia and one in Canada, using a contextual lens. In one case, the mutual governs its IT through Board participation in a subsidiary. In the second, governance is delegated to management and a Lead Director. Both of these mechanisms appear to minimize ITG risk, and are the result of their respective regulatory environments. This research begins to lend some clarity regarding IT governance choices by firms, and denotes important contextual differences between countries’ regulatory environments. This will allow researchers, managers, and directors to better understand and discriminate between ITG processes and structures.