Across every bank, you can feel the same tension: we have modern technology everywhere, yet the information behind it still lives in silos. The front end looks digital, but the plumbing underneath remains stitched together from systems that were never designed to talk. Each department guards its own data, its own definitions, and its own language. What should be a simple movement of information often turns into a slow relay from one application to another.
Retail banking has transformed dramatically over the past generation. Branch counters gave way to apps and digital channels, but the real complexity still sits behind the screen. Every new platform has solved one problem and quietly created another. Core systems remain fragmented, data is duplicated across departments, and even simple customer updates can travel through a maze of systems before anything actually changes.
What banks need now is not another expensive transformation programme but a way to make what they already have worked together. The idea of open source offers a practical route forward.
