Banks Embrace Fintech: Core Tech Upgrades Drive Future
By Sivam
Major banks worldwide are investing in core tech upgrades, including AI and cloud solutions, marking a significant digital transformation in financial services.
🔥 Main Takeaway
Banks globally are ditching old tech for advanced core systems and AI, driving a massive digital transformation across financial services.
📌 What Happened?
Nigerian fintech Interswitch Group picked Temenos to deliver cloud-hosted and on-premises services to banks across Africa, eyeing white-label software expansion across Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Kenya.
National Bank of Greece completed its “Cosmos” core banking overhaul with Infosys Finacle, migrating over six million customers, 12 million deposit accounts, and 1.5 million loans since its 2023 deployment, marking Greece’s largest banking tech project.
UAE’s Mawarid Finance swapped its legacy Oracle FS Flexcube for BML Istisharat’s Islamic ICBS, modernizing its core banking system after a competitive review of over 15 vendors that kicked off in August 2025.
New Jersey’s First Commerce Bank is moving to FIS Horizon, specifically to boost its AI capabilities, including standardized data feeds and agentic commerce, backed by a $40 million private placement of subordinated debt.
UK-based Finastra offloaded its US mid-market banking operations to Cora Group, divesting assets like the Phoenix Core Banking System, Malauzai Digital Banking, Enterprise Content Management, and Analyzer IQ platforms.
💰 Why It Matters
This wave of core banking transformations signals an industry-wide scramble to stay competitive, meet evolving customer demands, and leverage new technologies like AI.
For investors, these tech upgrades mean higher operational efficiency and potential for new revenue streams for the banks, but also significant spending on IT infrastructure and strategic pivots by fintech providers.
Consumers can expect more seamless, personalized, and AI-driven banking experiences as institutions invest in modern platforms, potentially reducing friction in daily financial interactions.
Fintech solution providers like Temenos, Infosys Finacle, and BML Istisharat are seeing massive opportunities as banks either outsource or upgrade their core tech stacks.
👀 What to Watch Next
Keep an eye on how Interswitch’s white-label banking software strategy unfolds across key African markets, potentially reshaping regional fintech infrastructure and service delivery.
Watch for further AI integration in banking, particularly how First Commerce Bank leverages FIS Horizon to deploy advanced agentic commerce tools and personalized services for its customers.
The divestment by Finastra suggests a strategic refocus; observe how Cora Group integrates the acquired US mid-market assets and what Finastra’s remaining Essence core platform strategy entails.