Top IT companies helping banks modernize and scale in 2026
Banks spent ten years patching old systems instead of swapping them out. By 2026, the patches are showing. Real-time payments, open banking rules, AI fraud checks — none of that runs well on infrastructure built for overnight batch jobs. Modernizing now means going API-first, without flipping the lights off mid-transaction. Who’s doing this work for banks right now? Ten names below, and a few things worth knowing before signing anything.
Banking tech, ten years back
A decade ago, “digital banking” usually meant an app stapled onto a system from the 1980s. Cloud migration scared regulators half to death. Then PSD2 forced European banks to open up data nobody wanted to share. Instant payments followed — FedNow in the US, instant SEPA in Europe — and the old “transfers take three days” line stopped working. Now AI is creeping into fraud scoring, KYC reviews, even rewriting COBOL nobody on staff remembers how to touch. Every wave made the old systems look a little older.
Picking a partner, not a logo
Forget the slide decks. A few things actually separate a safe bet from a headache:
- Proof of regulatory work in your jurisdiction, not a vague “we’re compliant”
- Real experience with your specific core (Temenos, Finastra, Mambu, or in-house) instead of generic enterprise buzzwords
- A security setup covering identity and incident response, not a checkbox
- Honest timelines — six months for a full core swap is a sales pitch, not a plan
- A pilot option before any five-year contract
Simple stuff. Banks skip it anyway, then find out about jurisdiction gaps the hard way.
Quick overview
| Company | HQ | Focus | Known for |
| DXC Technology | USA | Core banking, mainframe modernization | Hogan platform, Unicaja, Leeds Building Society |
| Endava | UK | Digital banking, payments | UK and EU tier-1 banks |
| GFT Technologies | Germany | Core banking, cloud migration | Deutsche Bank, Santander |
| Sopra Steria | France | Core banking software, regtech | Sopra Banking Platform |
| Netcetera | Switzerland | Payment security, 3-D Secure | Major card schemes |
| Synechron | USA | Fintech consulting, capital markets | Trading and asset management firms |
| EPAM Systems | USA | Cloud-native engineering | Global banks, fintech platforms |
| Apiumhub | Spain | Software architecture | European digital banks |
| OpenWay | Belgium | Card and payment processing | Way4 platform, 70+ countries |
| Mobiquity | Netherlands/USA | Digital banking UX | Regional and challenger banks |
Companies worth knowing
DXC Technology
Hogan, DXC’s core banking platform, still handles two-thirds of US card transactions and a staggering number of deposit accounts. Over 350 active financial clients, plus a ten-year deal with Spain’s Unicaja signed not long ago. CoreIgnite wraps legacy cores in APIs so banks don’t have to rip everything out at once. Trading systems and regtech round out the offering for banks juggling multiple regulators.
Endava
London-based, with engineering hubs in Romania and Moldova. Endava builds digital products for big UK and EU banks, leaning on small agile pods rather than massive fixed contracts. That structure suits mid-size banks who don’t want a five-year lock-in. Its fraud-scoring labs use AI for chargeback patterns — a request that’s only grown louder as fraud volumes climb across the continent.
GFT Technologies
Stuttgart roots, two decades of core banking work for names like Deutsche Bank and Santander. Worth noting: their CodeShift tool translates old COBOL into modern code using AI, trimming rewrite time considerably. Delivery centers sit in Spain, Poland, and Brazil — nearshore pricing with European regulatory know-how. DORA compliance deadlines have kept this team busy lately.
Sopra Steria
Paris-based, and its banking arm sells modular software rather than ground-up custom builds. Banks swap out a lending module or a payments piece without touching the rest of the core — useful when full replacement isn’t in the budget. The regtech side covers AML and reporting automation. Clients here tend to be mid-size European banks, not global names, which keeps engagements shorter and cheaper.
Netcetera
Zurich precision, applied to payment security. Netcetera built its name on 3-D Secure authentication, used by major card schemes everywhere. Every release goes through heavy certification before it touches a bank’s systems — slower, but that’s the point. Mobile banking apps and biometric login layers round things out, mostly for European issuers chasing PSD2-compliant authentication without adding checkout friction.
Synechron
New York HQ, fintech-only focus. Synechron’s Accelerator program packages ready-made pieces for KYC, trade reconciliation, and ESG reporting, which shortens project timelines noticeably. Delivery runs through India, Poland, and the UK. Trading desks and asset managers tend to show up here more than retail banks — it’s a specialist shop, not a generalist.
EPAM Systems
Founded in the US, built on Central and Eastern European engineering talent. EPAM handles cloud-native apps, onboarding flows, and data platforms for global banks. Big enough to staff multi-year programs — though some clients find the process layers heavier than smaller competitors. Recent hires have skewed toward AI engineering, mostly document processing for loan origination teams drowning in paperwork.
Apiumhub
Smaller shop, based in Barcelona. Architecture is the whole pitch here — microservices design, technical debt cleanup, the stuff fast-growing neobanks ignore until it bites them. Apiumhub writes a lot about software craftsmanship, which pulls in clients chasing rigor over headcount. European challenger banks and payment startups make up most of the client list.
OpenWay
Belgium-based, and narrowly focused on one thing: card and payment processing through its Way4 platform, running in over 70 countries. No core banking ambitions here, just issuing, acquiring, and wallet infrastructure. Banks launch new card products without overhauling everything else. Strongest footprint sits in emerging markets and mid-size banks wanting flexibility without a global integrator’s price tag.
Mobiquity
Dutch roots, US operations, and a UX-first approach to digital banking apps. Regional and challenger banks hire Mobiquity to compete with neobank-grade interfaces without rebuilding their entire core. Dedicated UX research teams sit alongside engineers — not every vendor in this space bothers. Projects run shorter and more design-led than the infrastructure-heavy work seen elsewhere on this list.
What actually matters
Size isn’t the deciding factor. A small firm with real regulatory scars in your market can beat a giant with none. Match the specialty — core replacement, payments, UX, compliance — to the actual problem, not the logo. Ask for references in your jurisdiction. That’s it.
FAQ
Is a full core replacement always necessary?
No, many banks modernize through APIs instead.
How long does modernization take?
Six months for a payments module, years for a full core migration.
Are smaller vendors riskier?
Not really, track record matters more than headcount.
Does AI replace these vendors?
No. It speeds up tasks like code translation, but integration still needs human judgment.