Despite the many expected benefits of Web services technology, some organizations are hesitating to adopt Web services on a larger scale and across their organizational boundaries. This article presents the findings from an exploratory study in the financial industry investigating the key factors preventing or slowing down the adoption of Web services technology, why these factors influence the adoption process, and what changes need to occur to promote Web services adoption. The findings are analyzed and discussed in the context of existing theories related to IS adoption and diffusion. The results suggest that the role of Web services is currently limited largely due to environmental factors, while XML based messaging is commonplace in the financial industry. The adoption of Web services is likely to substantially increase once some major players in the industry as well as IT vendors make them their key integration mechanism.