Incumbent banks may have large pools of existing customers and brand recognition, but as they strive to compete with digital-first challengers, they also suffer from a key disadvantage: dated technology assets. 

Their core banking systems are often decades old, inflexible, and laden with technical debt that prevents them optimising and innovating at a time when customers expect a modern digital experience. Fulfilling any new substantial business requirement ends up being a long, potentially multi-year programme executed in a silo. Change is delivered in long infrequent cycles, if not as a one all-or-none release with excessive manual oversight. With such a slow pace of change and high delivery risk, the business risks missing market opportunities and costing the firm their competitive advantage.