NS&I to Replace Legacy Core Banking System with SBS’s Digital, Cloud-Native Platform

NS&I SBS Digital Core is central to the U.K. savings bank’s effort to digitise its core infrastructure. As part of its transformation program with Atos, NS&I will use SBS’s cloud-native core banking system to modernise its operations, make them more scalable, and provide better service to millions of retail customers.

Organisations now realise the need to move faster than legacy on-premise infrastructure allows. European retail banks are accelerating their cloud investments, with spending projected to rise by 57.5% from 2025 to 30, reaching $12.6 billion according to a recent Celent report. Through its ongoing transformation programme, NS&I is proving how financial institutions can move beyond just aspirations to make fully digital, cloud-based services a reality organisation-wide.

Working with Atos, IBM and Sopra Steria, NS&I is transforming and digitising its retail operations. Powering this digitisation on the back-end will be SBS’s next-gen SBP Digital Core platform, which will replace NS&I’s existing core system with a cloud-native infrastructure for all of its Retail banking and payments services.

“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,” said Matt Smith, Chief Operating Officer at NS&I. “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.”

As one of the U.K.’s largest savings organisations, NS&I’s internal infrastructure is responsible for not only upholding its 24+ million customer base, but also implementing savings rate changes and servicing the resulting interactions with customers. With on-premise and even hybrid cloud systems, this means maintaining the highest level of data storage at all times—even when it’s not being used.

By transitioning to SBP Digital Core, NS&I will benefit from the complete flexibility and scalability of AWS’s cloud environment, enabling it to make data storage and other infrastructural adjustments as often as it needs to. Compared to legacy core systems that are not easily updated or modified, SBS’s cloud and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based alternative enables it to provide regular, automatic system updates, so there are no disruptions to banks’ day-to-day operations.

“Cloud and SaaS transformation in the financial industry is not a matter of when, but how,” said Eric Bierry, CEO, SBS. “NS&I’s transformation program 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. We’re thrilled to partner with NS&I on this journey.”

SBP Digital Core is a cloud-native, composable core banking solution that leverages latest technology and data to allow banks to offer personalised and relevant banking experiences to their clients while complying with regulatory requirements. It is a part of SBS’s larger retail banking offerings used by more than 1,500 banks across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In addition to core banking, these offerings include deposits, payments, lending, reporting, open banking and more.

With the NS&I SBS Digital Core, the institution embraces digital agility and scalability, which helps it fulfil its mission of providing modern cloud-based banking services.