Financial institutions moved AI deeper into production this week, led by Sony Bank and Fujitsu, which reported a 30% reduction in development time and 40% reduction in man-hours after applying generative AI (GenAI) across the development of a live core banking system. Fidelity Information Services (FIS) meanwhile secured core banking mandates spanning a newly formed US bank with more than $100 billion in assets and five newly chartered institutions, highlighting continued investment in progressive core modernisation.

Payments infrastructure also advanced across financial messaging, recurring collections, instant payments and cloud security. ACI Worldwide expanded its cloud-native messaging capabilities for real-time and ISO 20022 payments, while YES BANK and Open applied agentic AI to recurring collections. Pidgin opened access to FedNow and RTP for nearly 300 credit unions, Microsoft, Marvell and Utimaco moved specialised payment security infrastructure into the cloud, and Partior and LSEG DiSH set out plans to bring always-on settlement-bank liquidity to cross-border payments.

Read more on the week’s key developments:

1. Sony Bank and Fujitsu apply GenAI to core banking development

Sony Bank and Fujitsu introduced a g GenAI capability designed to support core banking system development, using AI across software development processes from basic design through integration testing. The companies reported that the approach reduced the development period by 30%, demonstrating a measurable productivity impact within a critical banking technology function.

The deployment is significant because it applies AI directly to banking infrastructure rather than only customer-facing applications. As banks continue modernising complex legacy environments, the ability to accelerate development while maintaining governance and reliability will become an important benchmark for technology transformation programmes.

2. Axis Bank and Hitachi Payment Services introduce AI-enabled banking and merchant payment solutions

Axis Bank and Hitachi Payment Services launched AI-powered solutions covering banking interactions and merchant payment experiences. The initiatives combine artificial intelligence with digital banking and payment acceptance capabilities, extending automation beyond internal operations into customer and merchant-facing services.

The development demonstrates how banks are increasingly applying AI across multiple points of the financial-services value chain. The key measure of impact will be whether these solutions generate measurable improvements in customer engagement, transaction activity and merchant adoption.

3. YES BANK and Open use agentic AI to anticipate recurring payment failures

YES BANK and Open launched i-Mandate on 11 September, an agentic payments platform designed to predict and address recurring payment failures before transactions are attempted. Built around a Predict-Decide-Act model, its Smart Protect capability analyses account behaviour with customer consent to identify potential failures and recommend alternatives such as changing the payment date or repayment account. An AI agent can communicate these options through voice and WhatsApp in 22 Indian languages.

The platform moves agentic AI into payment execution and collections, where failed transactions have direct implications for lenders' operating costs and customers' repayment records. Initial use cases include loan and EMI collections, while integration with Open's Arc lending platform extends the technology into lending workflows. The important benchmark will be whether predictive intervention produces measurable reductions in failed transactions and collection costs.

4. FIS wins core banking mandates across $100 billion bank and five new charters

FIS disclosed on 15 September that its core banking technology will power a newly formed US bank with more than $100 billion in assets, created through a merger, as well as five newly chartered banks. The new-bank clients include Mercury, which has received conditional approval for a national bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and deposit insurance approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The mandates show core banking investment occurring at two ends of the US market: newly formed institutions establishing their technology stacks and larger banks consolidating infrastructure following mergers. FIS is positioning progressive modernisation around maintaining existing core stability while adding development and AI capabilities, reflecting banks' preference for incremental infrastructure upgrades where wholesale core replacement carries higher migration and operational risks.

5. JPMorgan introduces spending and security controls for Claude

JPMorgan has introduced a $2,000 monthly Claude spending limit for selected engineers as it tightens cost and security controls around GenAI use, according to internal messages reported on 17 September. The bank is also rolling out Devspace, an AWS-hosted containerised environment that restricts Claude's access to employee credentials and internal systems. Around 8,000 of JPMorgan's 65,000 technology employees have Claude licences, while fewer than 2,000 are involved in the Devspace rollout.

The measures expose two operational constraints emerging as banks scale generative AI: token economics and the security implications of increasingly autonomous coding agents. JPMorgan has an annual technology budget of nearly $20 billion, but the introduction of individual usage limits suggests banks are moving towards measuring AI consumption against productivity and business outcomes rather than treating model access as an unrestricted enterprise utility.

6. Partior and LSEG DiSH develop always-on settlement liquidity for cross-border payments

Partior and LSEG Digital Settlement House (DiSH) announced on 17 September that they are developing a Multi-Settlement Bank solution to provide 24/7 settlement liquidity across Partior’s cross-border payments network. The model combines Partior’s multi-currency clearing and settlement network with LSEG DiSH’s omnibus trust accounts, allowing participating banks to move liquidity across settlement banks without maintaining bilateral nostro and vostro accounts outside standard operating hours. J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered are participating in the development and testing, with production go-live and additional bank onboarding targeted from the first quarter of 2027.

The model targets one of the persistent constraints in real-time cross-border payments: settlement liquidity remains fragmented across banks, currencies and operating hours even when payment messaging can move continuously. Connecting multiple settlement banks through common infrastructure could reduce pre-funding requirements and payment cut-off dependencies while laying the groundwork for intraday payment-versus-payment and delivery-versus-payment settlement. The immediate benchmark will be whether industry testing converts into production adoption across additional settlement banks in 2027.

7. ACI Worldwide expands cloud-native financial messaging for banks

ACI Worldwide expanded its ACI Connetic payments platform with cloud-native financial messaging capabilities designed to connect banks across domestic and cross-border payment networks. Announced on 17 September, the technology supports financial institutions managing real-time payments, ISO 20022 migration and multiple payment networks through a common infrastructure.

The expansion addresses a different layer of bank technology from the AI deployments elsewhere this week: interoperability between payment rails and messaging standards. As banks add instant and cross-border payment capabilities, consolidating message processing can reduce the complexity created by maintaining separate connections and formats, although ACI has not disclosed bank adoption or processing volumes for the new capability.

8. Pidgin opens instant payment rails to nearly 300 credit unions

Pidgin partnered with Millennium Corporate Credit Union to give its nearly 300-member credit unions access to multiple instant payment rails through a single platform. The partnership provides connectivity to the Federal Reserve's FedNow Service and The Clearing House's real-time payments network, while Pidgin also supports stablecoin capabilities. Its infrastructure connects core processing, digital banking and other third-party systems with payment networks while allowing funds to remain within the financial institution.

The agreement extends instant-payment connectivity further into the US community banking market, where integration cost and complexity can constrain adoption among smaller institutions. Pidgin says more than 1,000 community financial institutions can access its technology through its clients, including corporate credit unions and bankers' banks, while more than 100 institutions use the platform directly. The next measure will be how many of Millennium's member credit unions progress from having access to actively sending and receiving instant payments.

9. Kybix builds AI-powered KYB platform on Euroclear network of more than 800 customers and partners

Kybix launched on 15 September as an AI-powered know your business (KYB) information exchange platform backed by Euroclear and Liminal, the venture studio founded by Temasek. The platform builds on Euroclear’s GlobalWatch know your customer (KYC) data-sharing network, with more than 800 existing customers and partners expected to transition to Kybix. It combines registry and API data, AI-powered research and information supplied directly by businesses to create reusable digital business profiles.

Kybix is targeting a shift from periodic KYB reviews towards continuously maintained business information. Its platform combines secure information exchange, AI-powered questionnaires, third-party connectivity and decision support while retaining permission-based access and human oversight. Starting with an established Euroclear network gives Kybix a stronger adoption base than a standalone regulatory technology launch, although the next benchmark will be how widely financial institutions use the expanded platform beyond GlobalWatch’s existing asset-management ecosystem.

10. Microsoft, Marvell and Utimaco bring payment security infrastructure into the cloud

Microsoft, Marvell and Utimaco launched Azure Payment HSM v2 on 17 September, a fully managed cloud service for financial institutions and payment service providers handling cryptographic payment workloads. The platform combines Microsoft Azure with Marvell’s LiquidSecurity hardware security modules and Utimaco’s Atalla Payments Module software, supporting functions including card issuance, PIN translation, mobile payments and encryption-key management. It entered public preview in the western US and western Europe.

The service moves a specialised component of payments infrastructure that banks have traditionally deployed and managed themselves into a cloud-native model. This could reduce the infrastructure burden associated with maintaining payment HSMs while allowing institutions to scale processing capacity through cloud environments. Its relevance will ultimately depend on production adoption by regulated institutions and whether banks are comfortable moving highly sensitive cryptographic payment functions into a managed cloud service.

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