February 2025: Top five banking technology stories of the month
With the rapid rate of technological change and shifting customer demands, financial institutions across the globe have been looking to modernise their tech.
Here is our pick of five of the top banking technology stories from February, featuring FirstRand Group and Fiserv, AlRayan Bank and Finastra, Ibercaja Banco and Mambu, and more.
Lombard Odier taps MongoDB for GenAI-driven tech upgrade
Lombard Odier has upgraded its tech stack with GenAI
Swiss private bank Lombard Odier has actioned a generative AI-powered banking tech system upgrade in partnership with open source database management system MongoDB.
The upgrade will focus on Lombard Odier’s portfolio management system (PMS), its largest application which is currently used to manage investments, generate portfolio statements, and power its online banking app MyLO.
To assist in the migration of the bank’s old systems, the pair have co-created a “Modernisation Factory”, which will leverage MongoDB’s GenAI tools, including scripts and prompts, to automate integration testing and code generation.
MongoDB says Lombard Odier has also used the Modernisation Factory to move multiple other applications, including its marketing application Publications, from its legacy Java application server to the new mainframe.
South African banking group FirstRand selects Fiserv’s Finxact core banking system
FirstRand Group, a South Africa-based banking group with assets exceeding $130 billion, has tapped Fiserv’s core banking system Finxact to support its digital transformation efforts.
FirstRand will use Finxact to drive the “broader innovation initiative and growth objectives” of its customer franchises FNB (retail and commercial banking) and RMB (corporate and investment banking).
The deployment will also extend to FirstRand’s mobile and internet banking capabilities, and will incorporate Finxact’s transaction processing engine to accommodate “all asset classes, currencies and time zones”.
FirstRand is now the first financial institution outside the US to adopt the cloud-native solution, which was acquired by Fiserv in 2022 for $650 million.
AlRayan Bank embarks on core banking tech overhaul with Finastra
AlRayan Bank taps Finastra for core banking tech overhaul
AlRayan Bank, an Islamic bank based in Qatar, is upgrading its core banking software to Finastra Essence, the flagship core banking solution from banking tech heavyweight Finastra.
The solution, which is tailored to Islamic finance needs and requirements, is a “holistic offering” that will streamline AlRayan Bank’s operations, lower total cost of ownership (TCO), and offer enhanced functionality to its domestic customers, the vendor says.
Following on from the launch of its new Backbase-powered mobile banking app, AlRayan Go, the bank is now “undergoing a technology transformation”, according to AlRayan group chief HR officer Hamad Al Kubaisi, who labels the core banking revamp as “the next step in this journey”.
Puerto Rican credit union CACSI taps Sharetec for core system upgrade
Puerto Rican credit union Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito de Santa Isabel (CACSI) has selected US-based software provider Sharetec to upgrade its core system.
CACSI has adopted the vendor’s web-based Velocity platform, which will enable the credit union to “complete routine tasks”, such as loan processing, and will provide an advanced analytics suite, according to Sharetec.
“Having the KPIs in real time is a great advantage for decision-making,” comments CACSI executive president, Vivian Morales Cruz, highlighting the benefit of “having all the members’ information on a single screen”.
Ibercaja Banco in Spain taps Mambu to power consumer finance spin-off
Ibercaja Banco partners Mambu for consumer finance spin-off
Ibercaja Banco, one of the largest banking groups in Spain, has inked a six-year partnership deal with Dutch cloud banking technology provider Mambu to power the spin-off of its consumer finance unit.
The €97.9 billion-asset bank will transition its consumer finance operations to Mambu’s cloud banking platform as part of the spin-off.
This transition will first commence with Ibercaja Banco’s newly launched division, Ibercaja Technology Solutions, laying the groundwork to “further modernise the bank’s legacy stack and evolve their portfolio to fully service the consumer lending line of business in the long run”, Mambu says.
The partnership, which the vendor adds will take a “staggered approach over the coming years”, is hoped to culminate in the launch of a dedicated consumer finance entity “in early 2025”.
