Backbase vs 10x Banking at a glance
10x Banking is a cloud-native core banking replacement platform. Backbase is an AI-native Banking OS that coordinates the digital and staff experience above an existing core. They solve different problems, and one UK building society has already made both decisions separately.
- 10x Banking: Replaces the ledger. West Brom Building Society, the UK's eighth largest building society, is migrating its core to 10x's SuperCore platform with Deloitte, announced in May 2025. Best for a society ready for a multi-year core transformation.
- Backbase: Coordinates execution above whatever core a society runs, including 10x, SBS, TCS BaNCS, or Mambu. Best for a society whose core works but whose member and staff experience doesn't.
- Working together: Architecturally compatible. Backbase already runs above cores like Mambu and Temenos in other institutions; nothing about 10x's architecture rules out the same pattern, though there's no confirmed joint deployment today.
What is 10x Banking?
10x Banking was founded in 2016 by Antony Jenkins, the former Group CEO of Barclays, with offices in London and Sydney. Its flagship product is SuperCore, a cloud-native core banking engine the company also markets as a "meta core," built to replace legacy ledgers without disrupting live operations.
10x runs on an event-driven architecture rather than overnight batch processing, supports a polyglot runtime (Java, JavaScript, Python, Go, Ruby, .NET), and claims over 10,000 transactions per second at 99.99% uptime, figures reported by the vendor. Its customer base includes Chase UK, Westpac, and Old Mutual, and its investor list includes JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock, Westpac, CPP Investments, and, notably, Nationwide Building Society, the UK's largest building society.
10x has built a specific proposition for this sector: a dedicated building societies and mutuals page citing West Brom and the Co-operative Bank, and commentary from its Commercial Director following the Building Societies Association's 2025 conference on modernizing "while staying true to their roots."
10x Banking pros
- Proven at scale. Live deployments at Chase UK and Westpac demonstrate the platform handles high transaction volumes reliably.
- Real building society traction. The West Brom deal is a genuine, well-publicized top-10 UK building society commitment, not a pilot.
- Modern architecture. Event-driven, cloud-native, and built to avoid the batch-processing constraints of legacy cores.
- Sector credibility. Nationwide's position as an investor signals the country's largest building society has a stake in 10x's success.
10x Banking cons
- It replaces the core, not the customer experience. 10x is explicit that it handles the ledger "so that you can create personalized customer experiences," meaning a society still needs a separate solution for members and staff.
- Multi-year commitment. Core replacement is high-risk by nature and typically takes years, not months.
- Thinner public documentation. Independent review site FitGap notes that publicly available technical specs and prebuilt integrations are more limited than with long-established core vendors, which can mean more custom integration work.
- Tier 1/2 positioning by default. 10x describes itself as "expertly positioned to serve global Tier 1 & 2 banks," meaning its building society motion, while real, is newer than its enterprise banking business.
What is Backbase?
Backbase is the AI-native Banking OS: the Control Plane that coordinates digital channels, front-office workspaces, and operations so members, staff, and AI agents work from the same data. It sits above the core rather than replacing it, and works with any core banking provider a society already runs, including 10x's SuperCore.
Backbase already has a live building society customer in the UK. Furness Building Society runs its retail savings and onboarding on Backbase.
Backbase pros
- Global scale. Backbase serves 120+ financial institutions across 50 countries.
- AI-native governance. Nexus (the Semantic Layer) and Sentinel (Decision Authority) govern every AI action across the full member journey. Every action carries a Decision Token before it executes.
- Core-agnostic. Works above 10x, Mambu, SBS, TCS BaNCS, or Temenos, so a society isn't locked into a single core vendor's roadmap for its digital experience.
- Progressive modernization. A society can improve the member and staff experience without a core replacement project running in parallel.
Backbase cons
- Not a core banking system. A building society still needs a ledger from 10x, SBS, TCS, or another provider.
- Not mutual-specific out of the box. Backbase's depth comes from 120+ deployments across all bank types, not sector-specific tuning built solely for mutuals.
- Requires integration work. Connecting to an existing core happens through the Connectivity Layer / Grand Central, which is a real project, not a toggle.
Backbase vs 10x Banking feature comparison
Core banking capabilities
10x wins this category outright. SuperCore is a genuine core banking replacement engine, event-driven, cloud-native, and built to handle high transaction volumes. Backbase doesn't build core banking systems and coordinates execution above whatever core a society chooses, including 10x.
Digital member and staff experience
Backbase leads here. 10x explicitly leaves customer experience to a separate layer. Backbase delivers Composable Banking Apps for members, Composable Workspaces for staff, and Conversational Banking in Assist and Coach modes, all grounded in a shared Customer State Graph.
AI and Decision Authority
10x's AI investment centers on the core itself: product configuration, data streaming, and operational efficiency. Backbase's AI investment centers on the member and staff journey: Sentinel enforces Decision Authority so no agent action executes without a Decision Token, and Nexus keeps every channel working from the same operational truth.
Implementation and time to value
10x-style core replacement is measured in years, following West Brom's own description of a "multi-phase transformation strategy." Backbase uses progressive modernization, improving one domain at a time without waiting for a core program to finish.
Which platform should your building society choose?
Choose 10x Banking if your core itself is the constraint
Pick 10x when the ledger can't support new products, real-time processing, or the transaction volume a growing society needs. This is the decision West Brom made: a genuine core replacement, backed by Deloitte, aimed at the underlying infrastructure.
Choose Backbase if your member and staff experience is the bottleneck and your core still works
Pick Backbase when the ledger does its job, but the digital experience, staff tooling, and AI governance around it don't. This is a different decision from West Brom's, and it doesn't require a multi-year core program to start. Our building society banking platform guide walks through exactly how to tell which decision you're actually facing.
The Backbase approach for building societies
West Brom's decision to replace its core with 10x and Furness Building Society's decision to run its digital experience on Backbase aren't competing choices. They're answers to two different questions.
The real risk isn't picking the wrong vendor in either category. It's assuming a core replacement will fix a digital experience problem, or that a new app will fix a broken ledger. Start with our comparison of core banking versus digital banking platforms for building societies to work out which one you're actually solving for.
FAQs
Is 10x Banking used by UK building societies?
Yes. West Brom Building Society, the UK's eighth largest building society with over 400,000 members, is migrating its core to 10x's SuperCore platform with Deloitte, announced in May 2025.
Which UK building societies use 10x Banking?
West Brom Building Society is the confirmed, publicly announced deployment. 10x's own marketing also cites the Co-operative Bank as a customer-owned institution using the platform.
Can Backbase run on top of 10x Banking?
Architecturally, yes. Backbase already runs above other core banking engines like Mambu and Temenos through the Connectivity Layer / Grand Central. There's no confirmed live deployment above 10x specifically today, but nothing in either platform's architecture rules it out.
Is Backbase a competitor to 10x Banking?
No. 10x replaces the core ledger. Backbase coordinates the digital channels, staff workspaces, and AI governance above it. A building society could use both, in the same way many banks run Backbase above Mambu or Temenos.
