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Summary – Faced with regulated AI, instant payments, Open Finance and the digital euro, banks see packaged suites reach their limits in agility, integration and compliance, while vendor roadmaps struggle to keep pace with regulations. Functional rigidity, vendor lock-in and the inability to adapt scoring, blockchain or real-time payments hinder innovation and expose them to regulatory risks.
Solution: adopt an API-first composable architecture combining proven modules and custom components, a data mesh and a sovereign cloud, supported by Agile and DevOps governance to ensure adaptability, compliance and controlled TCO.
In a context where standardized banking suites have long dominated the market, competitive and regulatory pressure now drives financial institutions to rethink their software approach.
Against the backdrop of the regulated AI revolution, the rise of instant payments, Open Finance and the emergence of the digital euro, technical and business requirements outstrip the capabilities of off-the-shelf solutions. The challenge is no longer merely automating repetitive processes, but innovating and differentiating in a constantly evolving environment. Custom development, built around composable architectures, thus becomes a strategic pillar for ensuring agility, compliance and competitiveness.
Limitations of Standard Banking Suites in the Face of Current Requirements
Packaged solutions excel in standardized processes but quickly reveal their weaknesses when it comes to going beyond classic workflows.Functional rigidity, inflexible update schedules and limited integration capabilities significantly curb the ability to innovate and respond to new regulations.
Rigidity in the Face of AI and Blockchain Innovations
Standard banking software often incorporates ready-to-use AI modules, but these generic versions aren’t suitable for banks’ proprietary models. Training scoring models or fraud detection relies on specific datasets and tailored algorithms—capabilities that an off-the-shelf product can’t provide without heavy customization.
When it comes to blockchain and crypto-custody, each institution operates under a local or sector-specific regulatory framework. Security features, private key management and traceability require fine-grained control over the code—an impossibility with the opaque, monolithic nature of many off-the-shelf solutions.
Regulatory Oversight and Evolving Compliance
Regulators require frequent updates to comply with the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the European Central Bank (ECB) guidelines related to the digital euro, or SEPA Instant specifications. Standard suite vendors publish roadmaps spanning multiple quarters, sometimes leaving a critical gap between two major regulatory changes.
These delays can create periods of non-compliance, exposing the bank to financial and legal penalties. Rapidly adapting software to incorporate new reports or processes is often impossible without close contact with the vendor and additional customization costs.
Client Personalization and Differentiation
In a saturated market, banks strive to offer tailored user journeys: contextual digital onboarding, personalized product panels and automated advisory features. Standard modules rarely provide the necessary level of granularity to meet these expectations.
Why Composable Architecture Is the Answer
Adopting a composable architecture merges the robustness of standard modules with the agility of custom components.This hybrid, API-first model supports continuous evolution and seamless integration of new technologies while preserving rapid deployment.
Combining Standard Modules and Custom Components
The composable approach relies on selecting proven modules for core functions—accounts, SEPA payments, reporting—and on bespoke development of critical components: scoring, customer portal, instant settlement engines. This setup ensures a solid, secure foundation while leaving room for targeted innovation.
Banks can thus reduce time-to-market for regulatory services, while focusing their R&D efforts on differentiating use cases. Updates to the standard part occur independently of custom developments, minimizing regression risks.
A banking group implemented a custom client front-end interfaced with a standard core banking system. This coexistence enabled the introduction of an instant credit configurator, specifically tailored to business needs, without waiting for the main vendor’s roadmap.
API-First and Interoperability
Composable architectures promote the use of RESTful or GraphQL APIs to expose each service. This granularity simplifies workflow orchestration and the addition of new features such as account aggregation or integration with neobank platforms. RESTful or GraphQL APIs
Data Mesh and Sovereign/Hybrid Cloud
The data mesh offers decentralized data governance, where each business domain manages its own pipeline. This approach frees IT teams from bottlenecks and accelerates the delivery of datasets ready for analysis or algorithm training.
Combined with a sovereign or hybrid cloud infrastructure, data mesh ensures data localization in line with Swiss regulatory requirements while offering the elasticity and resilience of public cloud. Development, testing and production environments are synchronized through automated workflows, reducing the risk of configuration errors.
In a pilot project, an industrial equipment manufacturer segmented its commercial, financial and operational data into a data mesh. This architecture enabled the launch of a real-time predictive maintenance forecasting engine, in line with regulatory reporting and sovereignty requirements.
Technological Independence as a Lever for Agility
Breaking free from vendor lock-in paves the way for rapid, controlled evolution without reliance on a proprietary vendor’s timelines and decisions.The resulting flexibility translates into an enhanced ability to pivot and respond to unforeseen regulatory or technological changes.
Escaping Vendor Lock-In and Pivoting Quickly
Proprietary solutions often come with multi-year contracts and high exit costs. By choosing open-source components and custom development, the bank retains full control over its code, deployments and future evolutions.
Agile Governance and Rapid Evolutions
Implementing governance based on short cycles, inspired by DevOps and Agile methodologies, simplifies project prioritization. Business and IT teams collaborate through shared backlogs, with frequent reviews to adjust the roadmap.
Controlled ROI and TCO
Contrary to popular belief, custom solutions don’t necessarily result in a higher Total Cost of Ownership. Thanks to reusable modular components, cloud architecture and automated CI/CD pipelines, operating and maintenance expenses are optimized. Total Cost of Ownership
Custom Solutions for AI and Instant Payments
Advanced scoring, risk management and instant payment features require custom orchestration beyond what packaged solutions offer.Only a targeted approach can ensure performance, security and compliance for these critical processes.
Scoring and Risk Management
Credit scoring and fraud detection models require fine-tuned algorithm customization, incorporating behavioral data, transaction flows and external signals such as macroeconomic indicators.
Digital Euro Integration
The digital euro mandates tokenization mechanisms and offline settlement functionality that aren’t yet on the roadmaps of standard banking solutions. Token exchanges require a trust chain, an auditable ledger and specific reconciliation protocols.
A financial institution ran a pilot for digital euro exchanges between institutional clients. Its custom platform demonstrated reliability and transaction speed while ensuring adherence to regulatory constraints.
Instant Payments and Open Finance
Real-time payments, such as SEPA Instant, demand 24/7 orchestration, ultra-low latency and real-time exception handling. real-time payments
Open Finance requires controlled sharing of customer data with third parties via secure APIs, featuring quotas, access monitoring and granular consent mechanisms.
A major e-commerce platform independently developed its instant payment infrastructure and Open Finance APIs. Experience shows that this independence allowed the launch of a partner fintech ecosystem in under six months, without relying on a monolithic vendor.
Combine Custom and Standard for an Agile Bank in 2025
Standardized banking suites remain essential for repetitive processes and fundamental regulatory obligations. However, their rigidity quickly exposes limitations in the face of innovation, differentiation and continuous compliance challenges.
Adopting a composable architecture, combining standard modules and custom development, is the key to ensuring agility, scalability and technological independence. This approach supports rapid integration of regulated AI, real-time payments, Open Finance and the digital euro, all while controlling the Total Cost of Ownership.
Our experts support financial institutions in designing contextual, modular and secure solutions, perfectly aligned with your digital roadmap and regulatory constraints.
