ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd (ANZ New Zealand) has selected financial technology leader FIS^® to modernize its core banking capabilities.

ANZ New Zealand will be the first bank outside the U.S.to utilize FIS’ Modern Banking Platform, which is deployed on Microsoft Azure. FIS’ Modern Banking Platform enables convenient, frictionless digital banking services through a cloud-native architecture. The platform is a highly secure core banking solution that uses extensive measures to protect data and features the latest advancements in cloud security, monitoring and resiliency from Azure.

Ninety-one per cent of financial institutions are using cloud services today or planning to soon according to the Cloud Security Alliance. Yet traditional brick and mortar banks have been slower to move the core of their operations, core banking capabilities, into the cloud.

Cloud-enabled, componentized, open and highly secure – FIS Modern Banking Platform is designed with API-first functionality that puts financial institutions in control of their customer experiences. The solution’s plug-and-play components enable institutions to build the retail and commercial capabilities needed today with the speed needed to innovate into the future.

“Banks need modern systems to meet growing expectations for personalized products and services, and strengthen the customer experience,” said Andrew Beatty, Head of Enterprise Banking at FIS. “Cloud-based systems have quickly moved from a competitive advantage to the baseline of what makes a successful bank. Cloud-based core banking will enable banks to increase their speed to market and become more agile. We believe ANZ New Zealand is just the beginning of a huge industry trend to drive digital transformation through the cloud.”

“Upgrading our core banking technology into a cloud-based platform means we can continue to deliver reliable, efficient and secure services for our customers,” said Mike Bullock, Chief Information Officer at ANZ New Zealand. “Our current core banking system is very robust and up-to-date but, like most platforms used by banks around the world, it is based on technology developed decades ago. This work sits within our current five-year investment plan and will allow us to be more innovative in how we deliver banking services.”

“We’re honoured to be a part of ANZ New Zealand’s cloud journey, together with FIS, to help modernize their core banking infrastructure,” said Bill Borden, Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Financial Services at Microsoft. “Running on Microsoft Azure, FIS Modern Banking Platform delivers a flexible, data-driven solution to deepen customer relationships and roll out new products more quickly, while managing risk effectively.”

ANZ New Zealand’s current Systematics core banking technology is also supplied by FIS.