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Delivering a cloud agnostic and SaaS-based core banking platform

https://live.theasianbanker.com/
Written by TABLive  
  • Jan 01, 1970
  • 11 min read

Thought Machine enhances the compatibility of its Vault core banking solution with all major public, private and hybrid/on premise cloud platforms as well as introduces new SaaS-based offering

  • Vault core banking platform is cloud agnostic and now operates on Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud and Red Hat’s OpenShift
  • New SaaS offering provides flexibility without overhead of software management and updates
  • Thought Machines serves the full-spectrum of financial institutions to deploy modern systems and replace legacy IT platforms

Cloud native core banking technology firm, Thought Machine, has expanded its core banking platform Vault to run on every major cloud infrastructure provider including Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and IBM Cloud. In addition, Vault can be deployed on either the institution’s choice of cloud provider, on premise, in a hybrid cloud using OpenShift from Red Hat, or as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) product.

Thought Machine’s expanded compatibility enables banks and other financial institutions to migrate with the freedom to pick the cloud infrastructure partner of their choice - while adhering to any regulatory and legal requirements they might have in place.

Cloud agnostic core banking platform

Thought Machine was founded in 2014 by current CEO and technopreneur, Paul Taylor, with a mission to enable financial institutions to deploy modern systems and move away from the legacy IT platforms that plague the banking industry. “Vault does not contain a single line of code which is legacy, or pre-cloud,” he quipped.

Thought Machine is among the few solution providers in the market that has achieved a truly cloud agnostic business. It continues to expand its list of compatible cloud providers. Vault initially rolled out on GCP and AWS before progressing to run on the four leading cloud hosting providers, enabling far greater flexibility than peers in core banking and financial services technology.

Taylor commented: “The benefits of being cloud agnostic are crystal clear. Banks, fintechs and financial institutions have differing needs, and different relationships with the cloud. We don’t want to influence those choices, or those relationships, and are proud we can deliver Vault wherever, and whenever, a business needs it.”

SaaS solution provides flexibility

The new SaaS offering brings further flexibility for banks wishing to operate an instance of Vault for their institutions without the overhead of software management and updates. This Thought Machine-managed service is available on AWS, with further provider compatibility planned through 2020.

“By delivering Vault as a SaaS product, banks no longer need to concern themselves with the implementation, regulatory and logistical obligations of bringing software in-house. Vault SaaS is now available with the same high level of security and resilience as our deployed version, without the infrastructural management overheads,” Taylor remarked.

Thought Machine represents an emerging category of technology enablers that serves the burgeoning legacy IT system modernisation and replacement market, estimated to be worth more than $250 billion. Financial institutions globally are racing to deploy new generation cloud and open architecture-based core banking infrastructures that support application programming interfaces (APIs) and microservices, as part of their digital transformation.

Serving the full-spectrum of financial institutions

Unlike competitors that focus mainly on smaller non-traditional financial institutions and fintech start-ups in the early cloud adoption cycle, Thought Machines works across the financial institution spectrum - from tier one global banks, to smaller regional banks, greenfield offerings as well as fintech companies who offer banking capabilities to their customers, including British high street player, Lloyds; Nordic corporate lender, SEB; multinational transaction bank, Standard Chartered; as well as digital challenger; Atom Bank. All of these firms deploy Vault according to their different scale and needs.

Incumbent players are reconfiguring their traditional technology stacks to better leverage data and connectivity with customer-centric value chains and networks as they face the triumvirate of competition from digital and big tech challengers, shift in customer behaviour and adoption of open banking regulations that encourage development of needs-based and user-oriented ecosystems.

The process is being accelerated by the on-going COVID-19 pandemic that has changed the way that consumers and businesses interact, favouring mobile-first, remote and contactless transactions.

Thought Machine currently has a team of more than 300 people working across offices in London and Singapore and have raised more than GBP80 million ($100 million) in funding from Lloyds Banking Group, Draper Esprit, IQ Capital, Playfair Capital and Backed.