Plumery Unveils DBP Rescue Plan to End Digital Banking Vendor Lock-In

Amsterdam-based Plumery has launched a global "DBP Rescue Plan" to help financial institutions migrate away from legacy digital banking platforms that hinder innovation. By offering a risk-sharing model and waiving license fees for two years, the initiative addresses the technical debt and vendor lock-in currently consuming 70% of bank IT budgets.

What was announced

The DBP Rescue Plan is a global programme limited to the first ten financial institutions that sign up on a first-come, first-served basis. Plumery aims to complete these migrations within a 12-month window. The initiative targets the common industry problem where upgrading an existing platform costs more than building a new one, often due to technical debt and rising software costs. Research from Accenture suggests that 70% of bank IT budgets are spent on maintaining technical debt, while software costs have outpaced banking revenue with approximately 8% annual growth since 2017.

Participating banks receive a specialist migration team, playbooks, and a Proof of Migration framework to test systems against their own environment and requirements before full commitment. Key commercial incentives and structural features include:

• No additional software licenses: Plumery provides software licenses at no cost for up to 24 months to ensure institutions do not pay double when an existing contract is still running.
• Outcome-based delivery: Delivery milestones are agreed upon upfront, with Plumery invoicing only when a milestone is completed and signed off, effectively sharing the delivery risk.
• Ownership of roadmap: Institutions retain ownership of what is built. The platform utilizes a headless, BIAN-based architecture that allows internal teams, system integrators, and AI agents to build directly on the foundation without relying on a vendor’s specific roadmap.

The programme is designed to move institutions away from vendor dependency, providing a defined path rather than a "leap of faith" migration by leveraging expertise from team members who have migrated platforms for more than 100 banks worldwide.

"Too many financial institutions stay with digital banking platforms that are no longer working for them because leaving feels riskier than staying. The DBP Rescue Plan is designed to remove some of that risk. By combining migration expertise, proven tooling and a commercial model that removes software licensing costs for up to two years during the transition, we’re giving institutions a practical way to move forward and take back control over their digital future. Now the real risk is staying."

Ben Goldin, CEO at Plumery.

The companies involved

Plumery is an Amsterdam-based digital banking development platform. The company focuses on providing a flexible foundation for financial institutions to build and evolve their digital capabilities without heavy vendor dependency. Its leadership includes Ben Goldin, who was previously at Mambu, a major player in the cloud banking space. Plumery’s approach relies on a headless architecture and BIAN (Banking Industry Architecture Network) standards, which are designed to ensure interoperability and standardisation across the banking ecosystem. This allows banks to integrate various systems, from AI agents to third-party system integrators, onto a single foundation. The firm has established itself as a specialist in the digital banking space, offering tools that allow institutions to retain ownership of their custom-built capabilities rather than paying for features they do not own. By positioning itself as a migration expert, Plumery competes in a market where traditional digital banking platforms (DBPs) are increasingly viewed as rigid and costly to maintain.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has followed Plumery’s expansion into various niche banking capabilities over the last year. In July 2026, the publication covered how Plumery and SEON Partner to Combat Digital Banking Fraud with AI-Driven Device Intelligence. Earlier that year, the company focused on internationalisation through a partnership detailed in Plumery and Lokalise Partner to Power Hyper-Localised Digital Banking at Scale. The firm also made significant moves in the artificial intelligence space, as seen when Plumery Launches AI Fabric to Help Financial Institutions Operationalise AI Faster. Additionally, the platform introduced consumer-centric features, such as when Plumery Launches Cashback Management Capability To Help Banks Deliver Personalised Rewards in late 2025.

What this means

This announcement highlights a growing tension in the fintech sector: the "sunk cost" fallacy of legacy digital banking platforms. As technical debt consumes the majority of IT budgets, the industry is reaching a breaking point where maintenance costs prevent the adoption of modern tools. Plumery’s move to share delivery risk and waive licensing fees puts pressure on traditional DBP vendors who rely on long-term, rigid contracts. The success of this programme depends on whether banks can overcome the cultural inertia of migration. It raises a critical question for the sector: can financial institutions truly decouple from vendor roadmaps, or is the complexity of modern banking systems too deeply embedded for a 12-month migration to solve?