The mandate facing banks today is unmistakable. Customers expect real-time, always-available services. Regulators demand resilience, auditability, and operational rigor. And business strategy depends on technology platforms that scale without introducing fragility.
What has changed most dramatically is tolerance—for risk, for disruption, and especially for downtime. Planned or unplanned outages are no longer an acceptable characteristic of a core banking system.
At the recent Finacle on IBM Power User Group forum held in Mumbai on 10 March 2026 , banking leaders from institutions running mission-critical workloads came together to share experiences and priorities. Their insights reinforced a clear truth: modernizing core banking is no longer about replacement—it is about continuous evolution without disruption.
That is exactly where the combined strengths of Infosys Finacle and IBM Power are setting a new standard.
Always-on core banking is now a business requirement
For years, weekend maintenance windows and planned outages were part of core banking operations. Today’s digital banking reality leaves no room for those compromises.
Banks participating in the User Group forum emphasized uninterrupted availability as a top concern—not just during business-as-usual operations, but throughout modernization initiatives. Finacle on IBM Power is built on the assumption that core banking must remain continuously available.
Through platform-level resilience, live update capabilities, and enterprise-grade virtualization, banks can apply patches, updates, and infrastructure changes without interrupting customer transactions.
The impact is reflected in the following outcomes:
- Planned outages are removed from the operating model
- Operational risk tied to maintenance windows is reduced
- Customer trust and regulatory confidence are strengthened
Zero planned downtime is no longer just a technical milestone—it is a strategic advantage that fundamentally changes how banks operate their cores.
Predictable performance when it matters most
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Another message from the community was clear: performance failures during peak demand are unacceptable. Whether during payment surges, digital spikes, or ecosystem integrations, the core must perform reliably under stress.
IBM Power is engineered specifically for this class of mission-critical workload. When combined with Finacle’s modern, cloud-native architecture, banks gain:
- Consistent, predictable throughput at scale
- Low-latency performance under concurrent peak loads
- Built-in stand-in and parallel processing capabilities
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This is performance proven in live banking environments—not theoretical benchmarks. It is exactly the assurance banks require as transaction volumes and customer expectations continue to rise.
Modernization without disruption
Banks are clear about one thing: modernization remains essential—but not at the cost of stability.
Rather than wholesale replacement, institutions are prioritizing controlled evolution. The Finacle on IBM Power approach enables banks to modernize incrementally, introducing new capabilities while keeping the core stable and always on.
This is why interest in Finacle surround applications continues to grow. Banks can modernize payments, digital engagement, revenue management, and adjacent functions without disrupting sensitive core operations.
Modernization becomes a path to agility and innovation—not a source of operational risk.
Automation, security, and smarter efficiency
As banks plan beyond 2026, automation and security continue to rank among their top priorities. But cost optimization cannot come at the expense of resilience or compliance.
Finacle on IBM Power delivers efficiency at a system level, including:
- Higher performance per core
- Reduced infrastructure footprint
- Lower operational and database maintenance costs
These benefits are achieved while maintaining availability, security, and regulatory compliance—avoiding the false tradeoffs that undermine longterm scalability.
Supporting growth without complexity
Banks are also looking beyond operations toward new sources of growth. Dynamic pricing, ecosystem partnerships, and personalized offerings require a core that can support real-time monetization at scale.
Finacle’s revenue management capabilities, running on the high-performance IBM Power platform, allow banks to:
- Support complex pricing and charging models
- Protect revenue integrity across channels
- Enable new product and partner-driven revenues
The core evolves from a transactional engine into a growth-enabling platform—without adding complexity or risk.
Built on real-world validation
Perhaps most importantly, the User Group forum underscored the value of peer learning and real-world validation. Many modernization programs struggle because they are guided by narrow tests rather than proven operational experience.
IBM and Infosys Finacle take a full-stack approach—engineering and validating performance across compute, memory, storage, network, and application layers, informed by live customer deployments. This practical validation reduces uncertainty and lowers transformation risk.
A shared path forward
The insights from the Finacle on IBM Power User Group forum make one thing clear: banks want always-on resilience, predictable performance, and modernization without compromise.
By combining Finacle’s deep banking expertise with IBM Power’s mission-critical platform capabilities, this joint solution directly addresses what matters most to banks today—while providing a trusted foundation for what comes next.
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“The true strength of a user group lies in its collective intelligence. When customers openly share experiences, it creates deeper understanding and clarity. It reinforces the value of building a connected and collaborative user community. A strong combined value proposition of Finacle running on IBM Power delivers differentiated value for our banking customers to run their mission critical applications with zero down time, resilience, availability and security.”
Unnikrishnan Rajagopal | Director ISV Ecosystem, GSI and Alliances | IBM
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Modernizing the core no longer has to mean disruption. With Finacle on IBM Power, banks can evolve continuously—securely, confidently, and always on.
“The User Group reaffirmed something we hear consistently from banks: modernization must deliver innovation without disruption. The discussions helped revalidate our understanding of where banks see the greatest value today - resilience, performance, and continuous availability. This feedback continues to shape how we evolve Finacle on IBM Power as a platform banks can trust for their most mission-critical workloads.”
Subrahmanyam Chivukula | Distinguished Technologist, Infosys Finacle
Join the Finacle on IBM Power User Group forum
The Finacle on IBM Power User Group forum brings together banks, partners, and experts to collaborate across the ecosystem. Membership benefits include:
👉 Visit the link below to join the community and stay connected with future sessions and updates:
https://www.ibm.com/power/resources/isv/finacle-on-power-user-group/