My bank was acquired by another bank a while back, and I guess the merger has now reached the point where the IT systems must be integrated. I received a letter informing me of this and the specific changes that it entails:

If your Username contains letters, you'll be asked to change to a new numeric ID. Passwords that are eight or more letters will also need to be changed. The new passcode can contain 4-7 letters, numbers or combination of the two...To retain history currently viewed through Cardmember Access [the old system], we recommend that you print a copy or save any paper statements you received...Any alerts that you set up through Cardmember Access will be discontinued when the upgrade process begins.

Upgrade indeed. I'm pretty sure that these arbitrary limits will do wonders for security, and that the user experience will be improved by not having functionality present on the old site. I'm not holding my breath for RSS feeds of account activity or any actual improvements.