Nimo x KPMG Executive Roundtable
Last Friday, I had the privilege of co-hosting an executive roundtable with KPMG on the Future of Core Banking for the Mutual sector. A room full of sharp minds, candid opinions, and conversation that only happens when Chatham House rule is firmly in place. And whilst I can’t share who said what, the conversation surfaced a few insights that are worth sharing more broadly.
Setting the scene
This might be stating the obvious, however this is not a new conversation. Anyone who’s spent time in the mutual banking world has sat through some version of the “we need to modernise our core” discussion. What was different last Friday was the urgency.
Someone offered a great analogy:
If we’d started this conversation at the beginning of the day, we are now at five minutes to midnight.
That’s the moment we’re in. Not early. Not comfortable. Not “we’ll get to it.” The bridges aren’t just burning, some of them are embers. The question has shifted from whether to act to how to act without setting the whole house on fire in the process.
What does “good” core banking look like?
We spent time on this, and what became clear is that “there” isn’t the same destination for everyone. For some banks, a modern core is essentially a solid, flexible General Ledger. For others, the north star looks like full infrastructure transformation. Both are legitimate, but you have to know which one you’re aiming at before you start.
Running underneath all of it: member expectations. The pressure is both internal with considerations on operational efficiencies and best practices, and it’s coming from the people mutuals exist to serve. Members are experiencing seamless digital experiences everywhere else in their lives, and they’re asking increasingly reasonable questions about why their bank can’t do the same.
The room also explored the full landscape of what’s holding the industry back: regulatory considerations, cost pressures, liquidity constraints, and a long history of being beholden to a very limited set of options. They are not small issues. But what stood out was that the mood in the room wasn’t one of frustration or defeat. If anything, it created a sense of momentum and a genuine appetite to find a better way forward.
The market is moving, and that’s great news
There are more solutions in the market today than there have ever been. Competition is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do, breeding excellence and giving lenders real choices. If we keep doing what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always gotten. And in a market that’s finally opening up, that’s a choice, not a given.
How to get there
Everyone will have left with different actions based on where their bank sits. But several themes emerged that felt universally relevant:
- Get ruthlessly clear on what you’re solving for.
Start with your strategic goal and the pain point you’re actually trying to fix. From there: what capabilities do you want to bring to market? What’s your risk versus reward appetite? How scalable are the options you’re considering, and what are the real operating costs? Clarity here makes every downstream decision faster and cheaper. - Write the business case in both directions. Yes, the board needs to see the investment case, but they also need to see the cost and unintended consequences of doing nothing. A business case that only argues forward is only half a business case.
- Choose partners, not just vendors. Mutuals need strong partners, transparent costings, aligned cultural values, and partners who show up the same way pre-sale as they do post-sale. Culture fit is strategic.
- Keep your arms around your data. Whatever path you take, stay focused on data ownership and portability. Data is an asset, treat it like one.
- Decouple deliberately. Intentionally decoupling dependencies gives you back control of your own roadmap. This isn’t about one big-bang transformation, it’s about putting the lender back in the driver’s seat, step by step.
- Negotiate like it’s 2026. The era of the 10-year contract is over. Full stop. Approach your agreements accordingly.
- Let procurement do its job, properly (and modernise it while you’re at it.)
Focus procurement activity on what’s real and proven, not just what’s on the brochure. The market has more options than ever, which is great, but it also means more noise. Rigorous, grounded procurement is how you cut through it.
And here’s a call to action I’ll put on the table: many mutual banks need to modernise their procurement processes themselves. Too many current frameworks, the questions asked, the criteria applied, the due diligence run, were designed for a different era. They don’t adequately account for cloud, multi-tenancy, or the realities of modern software delivery. If your procurement process can’t meaningfully evaluate what’s in the market today, you’re not protecting yourself, you’re just slowing yourself down.
A final thought
There was one thing on which the room was unified: the clock is ticking, and standing still isn’t an option anymore.
The cost of inaction is just as real as the cost of transformation, it’s just less visible, and it compounds slowly over time.
And whatever path any lender takes, the compass stays the same: existing for members. Every decision about infrastructure, technology, and transformation ultimately has to be in service of them; better experiences, better access, better outcomes. They are the reason why there is a conversation about core banking at all.
Huge thanks to the team at KPMG for partnering with Nimo Industries on this one. Getting the right people in a room to talk honestly about something this consequential is hard work, and worthwhile.
If you weren’t in the room but want to continue the conversation, my door is open, get in touch here.