STAMFORD, Conn.—Despite the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence and cloud computing, bank technology executives aren't preparing to pull the plug on their mainframes, according to new research from Crisil Coalition Greenwich.
Nearly three-quarters of bank CIOs, CTOs and other technology executives believe their institutions can continue relying on mainframes as they embrace AI. More than 90% of executives surveyed said over half of their banks' core applications—including deposits, loans and payments—still depend on mainframes, and banks expect many of those applications to remain there.
Rather than undertaking wholesale migrations of core systems to the cloud, banks are concentrating on modernizing applications running on existing mainframes.
“Most CIOs/CTOs will retire before any mainframe plans are fully abandoned, and the question of balancing mainframe use versus the cloud will be inherited by Millennial and Gen Z professionals,” said David Easthope, senior analyst in market structure and technology at Crisil Coalition Greenwich and author of the report.
The research suggests the longer-term model will be a hybrid architecture rather than an either-or choice.
“Despite the bullet-proof nature of mainframe computing, the future of the banking industry is undoubtably a hybrid environment in which mainframes and cloud computing coexist and support different workloads,” Easthope said. “Banks will continue to modernize core applications on mainframes, while using cloud infrastructure where it provides greater flexibility, speed or access to new capabilities like AI.”