No. 03 · The observatory
Core banking
TSB’s 2018 migration failed at go-live. Data moved; the platform didn’t.
- Status
- Open
- Rank
- 10 of 35 in the atlas
- Scored
- 2026-10-05
- Report
- Back to the study
- Rank
- 10 of 35, published score 61.0
- Scoring date
- 2026-10-05, reported 2026-10-09
- Buyable
- $4.6B buyable midpoint, $9.6B to $17.5B recorded legacy spend
- Factors
- size 4, pain 2.2, AI fit 4, lock-in 3, crowding 2
- Coverage
- none recorded
Core banking
Ranked 10 of 35 at 61 out of 100.
Core banking systems of record: deposit, loan and general ledger.
What the evidence says
The checked evidence corroborates bounded core-banking pain. A buyer reported its core increasingly difficult to maintain in 2016. A regulator documented high-consequence migration failure at TSB in 2018. The evidence is thin; both quotes come from one 2016 vendor release.
Providers
The card checked three incumbents: Jack Henry, Temenos and Fiserv. Jack Henry reports 520 banks on SilverLake. Temenos reports over 950 core banking clients. Fiserv reports more than 550 bank and credit-union clients on DNA. The units and scopes differ. No ranking is supported.
Thought Machine is the recorded challenger. It reports 68 signed banks including 18 large institutions. Signed contracts are not production cutovers. Its AI-native status is unknown.
Sources:
- Thought Machine press release: $100 million FY2025 revenue
- Thought Machine press release: Deutsche Bank adopts Vault Core
- Jack Henry & Associates 2025 annual report (FY2025)
- Temenos 2025 Annual Report and Accounts (online summary)
- Fiserv 2023 annual report
The pain
FCSAmerica reported maintainability pain and shrinking legacy-language skills. Replacing a core carries regulator-documented execution risk.
At TSB’s 2018 go-live, data migration succeeded while service failed. Normal service was not restored until December 2018.
Sources:
- Farm Credit Services of America selects DNA core account processing (Fiserv release)
- FCA Final Notice: TSB Bank plc
- Thought Machine press release: Deutsche Bank adopts Vault Core
Events
FCSAmerica selected Fiserv DNA in October 2016. Completion and realized gains are not established.
TSB’s migrated system went live in April 2018. The FCA attributed failures to configuration, coding and programme failings.
Sources:
- Farm Credit Services of America selects DNA core account processing (Fiserv release)
- FCA Final Notice: TSB Bank plc
Limits
Both quotes come from one supplier-hosted 2016 release. FCSAmerica’s selection is not a completed migration. TSB shows migration-execution risk, not outgoing-core obsolescence.
Sources:
- Jack Henry & Associates 2025 annual report (FY2025)
- Temenos 2025 Annual Report and Accounts (online summary)
- Fiserv 2023 annual report
- Thought Machine press release: $100 million FY2025 revenue
- Thought Machine press release: Deutsche Bank adopts Vault Core
- Farm Credit Services of America selects DNA core account processing (Fiserv release)
- FCA Final Notice: TSB Bank plc
In their words
without having to be highly customized
Source: Recorded quote, 2016-10-25
compared to a command-line interface
Source: Recorded quote, 2016-10-25
Relevant workflows
6 recorded openings. A missing mapped round is a coverage gap, not an empty field.
| Workflow | Index | Labour | AI use | Core | Mapped |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contact-center and branch servicing: queries, disputes, record maintenance core-banking:wf-customer-servicing | 256 | $74.9B | 40% | non-core | 2 |
| GL, suspense and clearing reconciliation, payment exceptions and regulatory returns core-banking:wf-recon-exceptions-reporting | 172 | $41.2B | 12% | non-core | 1 |
| Account opening, KYC and AML alert review core-banking:wf-onboarding-kyc-aml | 116 | $19.0B | 20% | non-core | 2 |
| Loan origination, servicing and collections core-banking:wf-lending-collections | 92 | $27.7B | 18% | non-core | 4 |
| Branch teller transactions and cash-drawer balancing core-banking:wf-branch-teller | 83 | $9.4B | 0% | non-core | 0 |
| Core ledger, end-of-day batch and product-parameter maintenance core-banking:wf-core-ledger-batch-maintenance | -347 | $36.0B | 53% | touches core | 1 |
Recorded providers
Provider claims carry their recorded kind and citations. Undisclosed figures stay undisclosed.
| Provider | Products | Parent | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Henry & Associates | SilverLake | unknown | cl-core-rel-jack-henry (inference) source cl-core-inc-jack-henry (inference) source cl-core-m-jh-520 (observation) source cl-core-m-jh-12pct (observation) source |
| Temenos | Temenos core banking portfolio | unknown | cl-core-rel-temenos (inference) source cl-core-inc-temenos (inference) source cl-core-m-tm-950 (observation) source |
| Fiserv | DNA, Finxact | unknown | cl-core-rel-fiserv (inference) source cl-core-inc-fiserv (inference) source cl-core-m-fv-550 (observation) source |
Recorded inputs
Raw scored inputs exactly as frozen. Values and units keep their recorded definitions.
| Factor | Input | Value | Count | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pain | keep_alive_share | 0.2 | 15 | 1 |
| pain | backend_failure_share | 0.08 | 150 | 1 |
| pain | app_rating_inverted | 4.29479 | 33 | 2 |
| pain | failed_rate | 0.6 | 10 | 4 |
| pain | s3_grade | weak | 1 | 3 |
| pain | mean | 2.2 | unavailable | 2.2 |
| lockin | award_duration_months | unavailable | 5 | unavailable |
| lockin | noncompetitive_share | 0 | 14 | 1 |
| lockin | replacement_duration_months | 57 | 7 | 3 |
| lockin | regulator_approval | true | 1 | 5 |
| lockin | mean | 3 | unavailable | 3 |
| crowding | ai_native_traction | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| crowding | funding_per_billion | 32538029.479582623 | 10 | 3 |
| crowding | yc_2024_plus | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| crowding | mean | 2 | unavailable | 2 |
| size | users_midpoint | 8148 | unavailable | unavailable |
| size | buyers_mid | 12758 | unavailable | unavailable |
| size | midpoint | 12954072718.647213 | unavailable | unavailable |
| ai_fit | mean | 3.5532000000000004 | 12 | 4 |
| ai_fit | unanswered | unavailable | 0 | unavailable |
Recorded sources
21 recorded citations. Each link lands on the sources catalogue.
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