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SINGAPORE and LONDON, March 24, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

- New research from IDC and Thought Machine reveals Asia Pacific markets most

ready for core banking transformation – outlined in new Digital Core Banking

Opportunity Index

- Truly digital cores will deliver numerous benefits for the region's banks,

including agility, migration and cost

Thought Machine, the cloud native technology company with its APAC headquarters

in Singapore, and International Data Corporation (IDC), have released their

second piece of joint research entitled Truly Digital Core Banking: You Are

More Ready Than You Think(

https://info.thoughtmachine.net/truly-digital-core-banking ).

In this new piece of research, IDC outlines Asia Pacific's readiness for

banking transformation and a clear path for banks in the region to adopt modern

core technology and deliver truly digital banking experiences.

IDC's new proprietary index, the Digital Core Banking Opportunity Index, maps

regional markets according to two dimensions: opportunity-to-benefit and

execution readiness. Within the opportunity-to-benefit dimension, markets have

been measured on customer readiness for digital banking and market

infrastructure. In the execution readiness dimension, markets have been

measured on their propensity towards changing legacy systems and the maturity

of their market infrastructure.

The markets measured in the index are: Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong,

Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Findings

from the index show that:

- Singapore and Australia hold the largest opportunity for digital core

banking, with the remaining markets ready for digital transformation.

- Some of the oldest core systems are in the Philippines and Malaysia, whereas

Vietnam has relatively newer core systems.

- The majority of Asia Pacific markets measured are contained within the

'Market Acceleration' segment: primed to take full advantage of digital core

offerings

- Indonesia and Thailand have a strong propensity to change their core bank

systems, while Malaysia and Philippines have been slow to migrate to a digital

core.

The paper also details the reinforcing nature of digital core banking

technology – how modern software architecture increases bank delivery

capability, and the ability to continuously innovate. This, in effect,

accelerates a bank's overall readiness to execute on full digital

transformation.

In the latter half of the paper, IDC has detailed the exact requirements for a

modern digital core – outlining 25 distinct attributes the system should

possess, including on-demand analytics, intelligent configuration, flexible

licensing, cost reduction and more.

Michael Araneta, Head of Advisory and Research, IDC Financial Insights, said:

"IDC has examined the new wave of investments into digital core banking systems

in the Asia Pacific region and can now reveal that banks are primed to benefit

from the capabilities of a new generation of core banking systems. They can

finally be more efficient, more customer-centric, and more agile. No market in

the region, and no bank for that matter, should wait for the 'right time down

the road'. The time is now."

Nick Wilde, Managing Director APac, Thought Machine, said: "Asia's markets are

now able to take advantage of the efficiencies of cloud-native architecture, an

API-driven framework and low-code enhancement capabilities that are inherent in

truly digital core systems. The intersection point has arrived – Asia's markets

are ready to execute, and capture material benefits by migrating to a truly

digital core."

The paper explores Thought Machine's core banking engine, Vault, in the context

of these attributes. An assessment of low-code and no-code development

paradigms reveals that Vault's low-code approach unlocks multiple benefits for

banks wishing to be agile in fast-changing environments. Vault's API-driven,

real-time approach, has also been highlighted for its ability to streamline

integration with other systems, connect with Open Banking programs, and allows

banks to take advantage of new digital channels.

The paper closes with an assessment of the migration approaches available for

legacy banks when adopting modern digital core banking systems. Vault is

highlighted for its ability to cater to multiple types of migration: reducing

the complexity, risk and cost involved in the process.

About Thought Machine

Thought Machine was founded in 2014 with a mission to enable banks to deploy

modern systems and move away from the legacy IT platforms that plague the

banking industry. We do this through our cloud native core banking platform,

Vault. This next generation system has been written from scratch as an entirely

cloud native platform. It does not contain a single line of code which is

legacy, or pre-cloud.

Founded by entrepreneur Paul Taylor, Thought Machine's customers include Lloyds

Banking Group, SEB, Standard Chartered, Atom bank, Monese, TransferGo and

Curve. We are currently a team of more than 450 people spread across offices in

London, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, New York and have raised more than £110m

in funding from Eurazeo, Draper Esprit, SEB, British Patient Capital, IQ

Capital, Playfair Capital, Nyca Partners, Lloyds Banking Group and Backed.

For more information visit thoughtmachine.net

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market

intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology,

telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100

analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on

technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's

analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the

investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve

their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned

subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media,

data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit

www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC( https://twitter.com/idc?lang=en )

and LinkedIn( https://www.linkedin.com/company/idc ). Subscribe to the IDC Blog

for industry news and insights: http://bit.ly/IDCBlog_Subscribe.

SOURCE:  Thought Machine