What are the top 9 digital banking platforms on the market?
Check out our shortlist of the top 9 digital banking platform players to select your bank’s ideal strategic partner.
by Jouk Pleiter
5 mins read
Introduction
If you’ve been following this blog series so far, you should now be well aware of what we mean when we talk about Engagement Banking, as well as the top 3 things that differentiate it from digital banking. Along the way, I'm confident you’ve come to understand the importance of this essential new paradigm. Ideally, you’ve even started thinking about how your bank can leverage a platform model to eliminate the burdens of your legacy tech, maximize the value of your existing investments, and power confident, customer-centric innovation.
But here’s a bit of advice: don’t try to do it alone. Believe me when I say that trying to pull off Engagement Banking in a vacuum is a recipe for failure, even with the biggest budget and the top minds out there.
This, of course, begs the question: who should you turn to for assistance? Which vendor will be the best strategic partner for your bank as you begin your digital transformation journey? Or maybe you’re just starting the research process and need an overview of the digital banking platform landscape. In any case, we’ve got you covered.
Let’s take a look at the top 9 digital banking platform players out there, along with some pros and cons of each, starting alphabetically. Just a quick note: many of these vendors take the digital-banking approach, rather than Engagement Banking, so take that under consideration.
Alkami
Product: Alkami Online Banking Platform
- Pros:
Wide range of out-of-the-box features and capabilities
Many integrated partner products to enhance the offering
Future-focused architecture makes it easy to adapt to market changes
User-friendly interface helps developers to upskill
- Cons:
SDKs and APIs aren’t fully mature but show promise
Custom development is needed, which significantly extends the launch timeline, according to former/current users
Backbase
Product: The Backbase Engagement Banking Platform
- Pros:
Composable platform fabric for end-to-end banking journeys
Offers out-of-the-box components and facilitates streamlined customization/self-build
Vast partner ecosystem for core banking, credit scoring, pricing, and more
Comprehensive retail, business, and corporate banking apps
Extensive delivery options, including cloud-based
- Cons:
Lacks low-code/no-code solutions
Some upskilling needed to fully understand the platform, but Backbase provides training
Finastra
Product: FusionFabric.cloud Platform
- Pros:
Solid, feature-rich core banking product based in the cloud
Offerings are both broad and deep when it comes to feature functionality
Extensive partner app ecosystem with relevant APIs
Global reach makes them a good fit across regions
- Cons:
Legacy code base can lead to disjointed customer experiences
Current/former customers report issues with support, implementation speed, lack of customization
Infosys/Finacle
Product: Finacle Digital Engagement Suite
- Pros:
Comprehensive digital banking platform, complemented by optional components
Broad offering, incorporates retail, corporate, SME banking, wealth management
Significant resources for R&D/implementation
Well-defined roadmap, application architecture
- Cons:
Current/former customers express some issues with on-time delivery, need for customization, old-school UX
Solutions are core-centric, making them less comprehensive
Lack of targeted digital sales solution
nCino
Product: nCino Cloud Banking Platform
- Pros:
Fully cloud-based platform architecture with strong loan origination capabilities
End-to-end solutions, available out of the box
Training and live sessions help upskill developers fast
Salesforce partnership is a plus
- Cons:
Solution doesn’t cover the entire customer lifecycle, with a focus on onboarding/origination
Significant customization needed to offer a comprehensive banking solution, plus old-school UX, according to current/former customers
Lack of solid mobile apps
Oracle
Product: Oracle Banking Digital Experience
- Pros:
Breadth of out-of-the-box features and functionalities
Particularly appealing to tier 3-5 banks undergoing a digital transformation
Notably strong in the areas of solution integration, channel management, and ecosystem strategy
- Cons:
Not the most mature solution on the market, may still need some fine-tuning to compete
Q2
Product: Q2 Platform
- Pros:
Comprehensive retail banking solution
Extensive support for third-party integrations, including pre-built integration with Salesforce
Solid user experience across web and mobile with easy-to-use dashboard
Versatile API toolkits
- Cons:
Current/former customers report project delays, occasionally poor UX, lack of customization that makes innovation difficult
Focus on retail makes them less comprehensive than other solutions
Sopra
Product: Sopra Digital Banking Engagement Platform
- Pros:
Position as both a solution provider and an integrator is a strength
Solid adoption of open APIs and marketplace collaboration
Secure by design across all layers of the platform
Well-defined solution architecture with relevant microservices
- Cons:
Customers report a mismatch between sales promises and delivered solution, as well as on-time/on-budget delivery and communication of the roadmap
Hiring partners to deliver projects results in lack of ownership down the line
Temenos
Product: Temenos Infinity
- Pros:
Off-the-shelf capabilities for retail, business, and corporate banking
Highly automated with straight-through-processing (STP) capabilities, analytics, and AI
Solutions for composable banking
Low-code capabilities
- Cons:
Platform is broad but not particularly deep in some notable areas, including customer engagement
Customers express some issues with on-time, on-budget delivery
Selecting your bank’s ideal strategic partner
At the end of the day, the best vendor for your bank depends entirely on your needs and priorities. The best advice I can give you is to look for a platform provider that gives you the freedom to innovate on your own terms and at your own pace, one that doesn’t box you in but rather gives you access to a rich ecosystem of best-in-class solutions. More than a vendor, your bank needs a true strategic partner that will help you drive value for years to come.
For more information, check out our Banking Reinvented podcast, where I dissect similar topics alongside my colleague, Tim Rutten. And stay tuned, as we chat about everything from progressive modernization to decomposing your bank’s complexity.