"The total is greater than the sum of the parts," Roundtable CEO Steve Bartlett said. "Having BITS and FSTC under one umbrella will dramatically provide better resources for less overhead. We are pleased that FSTC's relationship with the vendor community will bring another unique element to the Roundtable." Historically, BITS and FSTC have collaborated while maintaining separate but similar memberships. By combining the organizations, the merger will eliminate redundancies and streamline resources within the financial services industry, as well as formalize the pipeline of BITS-developed business requirements into FSTC's technical development projects, the groups said. Neither group has planned layoffs but the Consortium will reduce its use of contractors.