2025 The voice of the makers

Core banking modernization and AI enterprise-wide

Over the past decade, banks have poured resources into cloud-native core banking modernization to achieve digital excellence. Yet, research shows ongoing issues. They  include cost overruns, delays, and poor ROI, with fewer than half of CIOs reporting substantial improvements in efficiency, customer experiences, or innovation agility. These challenges highlight the urgency for a strategic shift amid rapid tech cycles and AI’s widespread adoption.

Forward-thinking CIOs are leveraging generative AI to speed up software development, advancing from basic code generation to advanced frameworks that analyze legacy systems, extract business rules, and automate processes end-to-end. This requires rethinking operating models with AI-integrated workflows, embracing industry standards to resolve application disarray, and crafting hybrid cloud strategies for modularity, scalability, and real-time capabilities—while addressing risk aversion and silos.
 

As AI surges forward, mastering this blend of AI acceleration, strategic alignment, and resilient governance will distinguish thriving institutions, unlocking asymmetrical competitive advantages, exponential growth, and future-fit platforms in an intensely competitive landscape.

  
The IBM Institute of Business Value (IBM IBV) invited executives from 10 financial institutions and service providers to discuss their strategic perspectives on how banks succeed in core banking modernization innovation, and scaling AI enterprise-wide with advanced risk management:

Akbank: Gökhan Gökçay, Executive Vice President—Technology

Bancolombia: Alvaro Ernesto Carmona Ruiz, Chief Technology Officer

Bancolombia: Camilo Piedrahita Macias, Senior IT Director, Developer Platforms

Bancolombia: Daniel Umberto Ayala Marin, Leader of IT Excellence Center

Bancolombia: Emanuel Medina Gomez, Leader of IT Engineering Platform

DNB: Nicolai Rygh Chief Technology Officer, Retail Bank

FirstRand: Gordon Little, Executive payments and platforms

Getnet by Santander: Alexandre Oliveira, VP of Risks, Collections, AML, Fraud, and Compliance

Intesa Sanpaolo: Rita Gnutti Executive Director, Internal Validation and Controls

Nubank: Caio Banti, Chief Risk Officer Brazil

Nubank: Felipe Lamounier, Head of AI Products Strategy

Nubank: Juliana Barby Simão, Global Head of Model Risk Management

TD Bank Group: Vipul Lalka, Vice President, Digital Strategy and Planning, Canadian Personal Banking

UOB: Stuart Smith, Head of Innovation, Group Retail TMRW

ZAFIN: Charbel Safadi, Chief Executive Officer

Their expert opinions enriched The 94% core banking problem: What derails modernization—and actionable insights from CIOs, a point of view that the IBM IBV published in collaboration with the Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN). Our extensive research project is based on a global survey with over 500 Chief Information Officers (CIO) and almost 200 Chief Data and AI Officers (CDOs and CAIOs) at banks with more than $10 billion of total assets.

By reading The voice of the makers compendium to our research study, you will access reflections about the current state of banking core modernization. Our research study and the corresponding interviews explore several provocative themes:

• CIOs unearth gold by turning setbacks into insights.
• AI can turbocharge banking transformation, but risk management.
• Demands attention.
• Is core banking customization a real edge, or just recycled code?
• Agentic AI is the next big bet.

Download the report to learn more from our panel of experts.