Amid all the talk of analytics changing the way organizations operate and helping to uncover new business opportunities, one global financial institution is staying competitive with a more than 30-year-old database deployment. Jay Prag, the chief information officer of South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB), stopped by theCUBE this week to share the fascinating inside story.

While other users switched to newer software in order to keep up with evolving requirements, the Johannesburg-based financial services provider has continuously  improved and expanded upon implementation of IBM Corp.’s Information Management System since the original rollout in 1983.  Approximately 30 million lines of code later, FNB can now process a transaction for less than a tenth of a cent to keep its rates competitive with rivaling banks.

Listen to Prag lay out the history of the project and explain the reasoning behind sticking with an 80s-vintage system in a time when the pace of technological change has never been faster in the interview below. Be check our other coverage from IBM Insight 2015 as well for more exclusive exclusive case studies.

Photo via theCUBE