Banking Infrastructure Overhaul to Strengthen Control and Reduce Cost

About Client

The client is an established digital bank based in the United Kingdom catering to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

Background 

In the digital banking landscape, strong banking infrastructure is central to operational reliability and customer satisfaction. For a digital bank, the ability to manage data efficiently depends heavily on the quality and control of IT infrastructure for banks. When data is not accessible, secure, or well-governed, it directly affects decision-making and speed to market. 

Banking infrastructure also influences how effectively institutions can use analytics and automation to stay competitive. Without purposeful investment in bank IT infrastructure management, digital banks often struggle to scale and innovate at the pace required in a fast-moving financial environment.

Challenges 

The client relied on a third-party technology provider for all data management activities, with an agreement that restricted access to the data platform and limited operational visibility. This dependency created multiple constraints that affected their efficiency, decision-making, and control over their banking infrastructure.

  • Lack of ownership of banking infrastructure increased reliance on external vendors and limited flexibility to enhance security or agility. Without direct control over IT infrastructure for banks, the client could not customize or strengthen systems as the business evolved.
  • Hidden service charges disrupted financial planning. The absence of transparent bank IT infrastructure management made budgeting inconsistent and restricted investments in innovation due to unclear operational costs.
  • Restricted data warehouse access slowed business intelligence processes. Teams struggled to work with complete or real-time data, impacting responsiveness, competitiveness, and the ability to generate meaningful insights.
  • Limited visibility into operations affected alignment across teams and reduced the ability to make informed decisions.
  • These challenges pushed the client to shift away from vendor dependence and build an in-house data platform with full ownership and oversight.

Solution:

The team conducted a detailed analysis of the technical landscape, existing processes, and constraints created by the vendor arrangement. The primary recommendation was to transition to an internally managed platform to gain wider data access, enhance security, and improve long-term cost efficiency. This shift strengthened the bank’s banking infrastructure and increased control over critical operations.

  • A secure and scalable setup was built using AWS, Snowflake, and Power BI, designed fully within the approved budget while improving performance, governance, and reliability across the environment.
  • This modern IT infrastructure for banks enabled system consolidation and standardized data flows, reducing fragmentation and improving consistency across business functions.
  • Data from nCino, Mambu, Google Analytics, and MySQL DB was integrated into a unified enterprise data warehouse, providing a single source of truth with enhanced accuracy, availability, and consistency.
  • The warehouse allowed teams to access reliable data without relying on third-party intermediaries, improving speed and confidence in reporting and analytics.
  • The team is currently integrating FIS (MSSQL) and additional new sources to ensure continuous expansion and alignment with the bank’s evolving data needs.

Outcomes:

A well-designed, scalable, and robust data platform was built, resulting in notable advantages.

  • Unrestricted Data Access: Empowered the client with direct access, fostering quicker decision-making and better control of data  without reliance on third-party providers.
  • Optimized Cost Management: Achieved enhanced cost visibility through infrastructure ownership, enabling precise budgeting and a remarkable 30 percent reduction in costs.
  • Operational Excellence: The Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) streamlined operations by providing direct access to key performance indicators (KPIs) for businesses. It not only acts as a single source of truth, but also provides essential metrics for business, reducing the effort spent on regenerating these logic and enhancing reporting capabilities.

Organizational Transparency:  Increased transparency and awareness of organizational processes, promoting accountability and informed decision-making. With data readily available, the client can analyze data, identify patterns, and develop solutions to challenges, leading to breakthroughs and improvements.

BizAcuity
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.