Core Banking Systems

Banking CIOs are prioritizing core modernization to deliver decentralized and distributed applications. In response, core banking systems are evolving to enhance composability and use of the cloud. This research will aid bank CIOs in identifying solutions that best align with their business goals.

Market Definition

Gartner defines a core banking system (CBS) as the financial institution’s back‐office software that performs real-time or end-of-day processing for deposits and loans. Apart from advancing the processing dates, representative capabilities include transaction posting, interest accrual/payment, service charge calculation and cash management (zero balance, target balance). CBSs provide deposit and loan product servicing with interfaces to other applications, such as customer-facing channels, general ledger systems and reporting tools. CBSs can be deployed on the bank’s premises or run from the cloud or any hosted environment. Bank employees and customers either directly or indirectly use the bank’s CBS.

The CBSs of a financial institution’s back‐office software perform either real-time or end-of-day processing for deposits and loans. Apart from advancing the processing dates, representative capabilities include transaction posting, interest accrual and posting, service charge calculation and cash management (zero balance, target balance). All these processes and steps imply a business model based on conventional banking principles that imply interest accrual on accounts and profitability from any lending practice. Therefore, CBSs, by definition, implicitly exclude Islamic CBSs that, to the contrary, use Islamic financial tools to back Shariah-compliant business models that require different mechanisms to produce profits.

Report 2025

Here is a summary of the vendors featured in the Gartner magic quadrant 2025 report.
For the full analysis and detailed insights, you can read the report here and view the magic quadrant graphic here.

Market Status Market Vendor
Leader Thought Machine
Leader Infosys Finacle
Leader TCS BaNCS
Leader Mambu
Leader Intellect Design Arena
Leader Finastra Essence
Leader Oracle FLEXCUBE
Visionary Temenos
Visionary SAP Fioneer
Niche Player Ohpen
Niche Player Vilja Solutions
Niche Player Profile Software
Challenger Engine by Starling
Challenger FintechOS
Challenger 10x Banking