[simonblack]

devs refused to go into that because much like the authors they are 30 years in the banks and don’t want to learn something else

The way to fix that is to use the method IBM used to introduce the IBM-PC back in 1981. They set up a completely independent project group that had no connection with the main-frame boys, and so weren't 'brainwashed' into the IBM 'way of life'. The rest is history.

Incidentally, while I no longer program in COBOL, I still like it. It was always easy to do maintenance on a program that I might not have looked at for decades because of its wordiness. I normally program in C these days, but it's not as 'maintenance-friendly' as COBOL unless there are lots of comments.