Finastra has recently announced a significant multi-year global agreement with Microsoft that focuses on modernizing their trade platform. This partnership is intended to enhance the capabilities of Finastra’s Trade Innovation and enable banks to provide better services to their customers while adapting to evolving needs and regulations. Here are some key points from this announcement:
- Platform Modernization: Finastra aims to modernize its trade platform by leveraging Microsoft Azure’s capabilities. This modernization will be achieved through a full microservices architecture, providing banks with increased agility, flexibility, and scalability. The goal is to offer a seamless and engaging experience for financial institutions’ corporate customers.
- Open Finance and APIs: Finastra acknowledges the evolving expectations of corporate customers and the importance of open finance. They plan to extend the availability of open APIs through their Trade Innovation platform and FusionFabric.cloud, enabling customers to participate in a digital trade ecosystem. This will support the digitalization of the entire transaction lifecycle.
- Collaboration with Microsoft: Finastra and Microsoft have a shared vision to accelerate the digital transformation of financial services. Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and data and AI capabilities will be harnessed to facilitate innovation, efficiency, customer engagement, and operational transformation at scale for financial institutions.
- Recognition in Trade Finance: Finastra’s Trade Innovation platform received recognition as “Best in Class” in the Aite Matrix of Trade Finance Software in February 2023. This recognition highlights the significance of modernizing trade finance operations, transitioning away from manual and paper-based processes, and embracing technologies such as open banking, artificial intelligence, and data analytics.
- Supporting Banks in Transformation: The partnership between Finastra and Microsoft aims to support banks on their journey to modernize trade finance and supply chain finance operations. The goal is to help these financial institutions stay competitive, meet changing customer demands, and leverage the latest innovations in the industry.
This collaboration signifies a commitment to enabling financial institutions to stay at the forefront of innovation and transformation within the trade finance sector, meeting the evolving needs of corporate customers while leveraging cutting-edge technologies and open banking principles.