National Savings and Investments (NS&I), the UK’s state-owned savings bank, has forged a partnership with SBS to replace its legacy core banking system with a digital, cloud-native platform.
This initiative forms part of NS&I’s broader transformation programme, focusing on modernising its banking and payment services infrastructure in collaboration with Atos.
NS&I chief operating officer Matt Smith said: “NS&I’s transformation program will help to deliver the digital experiences that our customers expect, while still ensuring there is help and support for those who need it.
“Replacing our core system is a critical step in this evolution, and we look forward to continuing our work with SBS and Atos to bring it to fruition.”
The project will utilise SBS’s SBP Digital Core platform, transitioning NS&I from its legacy systems to a cloud-native infrastructure hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS). This change is expected to provide enhanced flexibility and scalability, allowing the institution to make necessary adjustments to data storage and other infrastructure without disrupting daily operations.
Regular, automatic updates are a key feature of this new system, contrasting the limitations of older systems.
Recent industry analysis indicates that European retail banks are significantly increasing their investment in cloud technology. A report by Celent forecasts a 57.5% rise in spending on cloud infrastructure from 2025 to 2030, reaching $12.6bn. This trend underscores the financial sector’s shift towards more agile and efficient digital solutions.
NS&I manages savings for over 24 million customers, making its internal systems vital for implementing savings rate adjustments and managing client interactions. Currently reliant on on-premise and hybrid cloud solutions, NS&I’s move to a fully digital platform aims to optimise operational efficiency.
As part of SBS’s retail banking offerings utilised by over 1,500 banks across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the SBP Digital Core platform offers banking functionalities such as deposits, payments, lending, and open banking capabilities.
SBS CEO Eric Bierry, CEO said: “Cloud and SaaS transformation in the financial industry is not a matter of when, but how.
“NS&I’s transformation programme is evidence that it is possible for banks to execute this transformation—and doing so sets them up to drive otherwise unattainable efficiencies and experiences.”
