At the Core of Banking

When I was at Monzo, we didn’t buy an external core banking system - we just built our own and it ended up supporting 12 million customers.

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So when I started working with US banks, I was baffled. Why is there a never ending list of systems like Silver Lake, DNA, and Signature?

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As it turns out, they almost all belong to the big three providers: FIS, Fiserv, and Jack Henry.

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To shed light on this, I spoke to Stacy Bishop, former sales lead at Jack Henry, to find out why banks don't just build their own.

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We covered:

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• Why choosing a big three provider is the safe career move for bank executives, even if they hate the service.
• The reality of deconversion fees - where banks have to pay to get their own data.
• How legacy cores stay dominant by handling the double letter US regulations so banks don’t have to.
• How banks are finally innovating by building alongside their legacy systems.
• The inside scoop of how core providers secure long term contracts with banks.
• Why the next 5–10 years will look nothing like the last 20.

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If you’ve ever wondered why US banking tech feels stuck in 2005, this is the episode for you.

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