Digital transformation in financial services calls for speed dating – not another marriage

The pace of digital transformation worldwide means financial services infrastructure isn’t the monolith it once was – it’s quickly becoming a modular marketplace, and the fastest way to innovate isn’t to rip and replace, but to orchestrate and integrate.

Customers don’t wake up wanting a “better core system”. They want products that keep up with life. Open an account in minutes. See money move in real time. Spin up a digital card the moment it goes missing. Freeze a card from the school run, split a dinner bill, set travel limits before a flight, and get a nudge that prevents an overdraft fee. Life doesn’t wait for batch windows – rent is due, wages arrive, a cafe is tapping for payment right now. 

Inside many institutions, simply keeping things running today often takes 100% of the focus. Product ranges that customers frequently see reflect constraints, not strategy – one provider can offer instant card controls because its authorisation layer is modern, while another can’t because those controls sit behind a legacy switch. 

One delivers real-time alerts; another posts them overnight. What’s a few taps in one app becomes five forms and a branch visit elsewhere. 

When customers ask why a seemingly simple request – say, opening a joint account or ordering a digital card – can’t be supported, the answer should never be: our system won’t allow it. Yet for many providers, it’s still the reality. 

Deployment without disruption

Why is agility still such a challenge? Jason Latham, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Shaype, Australia’s leading fintech innovation partner, points to one culprit: technical debt. 

“When organisations layer services over time, they inherit complexity,” he explains. “Payment architectures get bloated. Core functions, such as cards, payments, and new product flows, become locked behind walls that are too difficult or costly to break down. So they remain untapped.” 

Organisations that want more flexibility to innovate have historically had two choices: either take a big risk, rip and replace long-term infrastructure to accelerate change – a costly and lengthy process with no guarantee of seamless success – or proceed cautiously, making slow, incremental changes over time at the risk of giving competitors a head start. 

“Our platform gives clients the power to build their own products at a fraction of the effort and cost. We don’t just deliver technology – we transfer knowledge. Clients leave with the tools and confidence to innovate continuously.” 

Jason Latham

Transformation with Shaype provides a new, third alternative: overlay and orchestrate. Preserve core systems and platforms, adding a modern layer that lets you build, launch and evolve new products in a modular marketplace – flexibly and with zero disruption. 

“Future-proofing doesn’t mean taking on big risk and going from one long-term infrastructure relationship to another,” Latham says. “Evolving to clever architecture instead can enable optionality and flexibility – which means instead of going marriage-to-marriage, you’re effectively speed dating.” 

Simple, agile solutions 

That modular model also brings back choice. Want to add a round-ups feature, bring in family card controls, or launch a business account with different permissions?  

Do it beside your existing systems, prove it with a small group of customers, then move it into the main flow when it works – no need to retire existing tech until it stops earning its keep. 

Shaype’s award-winning technology powers many different types of financial organisations, including Tier One banks in Australia, enabling a step change from 10-year roadmaps to 10-week rollouts. 

According to Latham, Shaype delivery times to market are significantly faster than industry standards, largely due to the platform’s clever architecture. 

The average delivery timeframe for a Shaype client product is 10 weeks. Clients typically complete their technical integration to the platform in days or weeks, instead of months or years. 

“Our platform gives clients the power to build their own products at a fraction of the effort and cost. We don’t just deliver technology – we transfer knowledge. Clients leave with the tools and confidence to innovate continuously,” Latham says. 

“It’s always great to get unsolicited comments from senior members of tech teams saying Shaype’s platform is a game changer in their approach to building product.” 

Despite increasing pressure for change from customers, for many large institutions, speed to market ahead of the competition isn’t the only driving force for change – protecting customer and system integrity is paramount. 

Innovative today, resilient tomorrow

Rapid modernisation shouldn’t come at the cost of security. “Parallel” by Shaype is a dedicated platform deployment that runs alongside existing systems, designed to enhance resiliency and continuity of service – all through modern, permissioned interfaces. 

“The real challenge is being able to evolve month to month,” Latham says. “That’s where deploying dedicated modern architecture like Parallel excels – supporting rapid, continuous change in your own environment and having constant ability to speed date best-in-class infrastructure, next door to your core systems.” 

Integration is handled by Shaype’s proprietary middleware layer, ShaypeWare, which can also be used to add, trial, and swap underlying components – processors, payment rails, risk engines – without putting uptime at risk. Independent microservices deploy side by side with existing platforms and interoperate through an API gateway.  

New capabilities can be embedded and customers switched over progressively. Crucially, customers feel none of the plumbing. 

Purchases still tap, balances update in real time, and alerts arrive on cue – even during migrations. 

When the unexpected happens, Parallel can also be used to instantly “carry over”: provision substitute accounts and re-route payment and authorisation flows so taps still work, transfers still clear, and payroll still lands. No outage theatre and no customer impact. 

“Partnering with Shaype means you can become a modern, cloud-based technology business with regulated industry DNA, without changing anything behind the scenes,” Latham says. 

“We make it easy for you to provide your services to your internal and external customers.” 

Partner with Shaype to seamlessly modernise existing infrastructure and rapidly develop new financial products and services.  

Learn more at shaype.com or email at bizdev@shaype.com  to meet and chat about your needs.