Microsoft and Finastra team up to help the financial sector embrace the cloud 

Microsoft and Finastra have signed a cloud agreement that aims to help financial companies across the world benefit from Azure and its cutting-edge digital tools. 

The pair have announced a multi-year deal to support banks, credit unions and other firms in the sector to use Azure, Power Platform and Microsoft 365 to analyse their data, unlock the power of artificial intelligence and store more information online. 

By using Azure, financial businesses can save money, enable staff to be more productive and collaborative, and offer a better service to their customers. 

Simon Paris, Finastra Chief Executive, said: “This is a truly exciting step-change in the relationship between our two companies. We believe the future of finance is open – together with Microsoft, we can provide people, businesses and communities the solutions and services that fit around their needs and lives – unlocking the power of finance for everyone. 

“As the pandemic has brought the future forward in regard to digitisation, our vision to transform the world of financial services aligns closely with Microsoft’s ambitions and I believe that, together, we can help accelerate this digital shift to support businesses, communities and individuals around the world.” 

Finastra, which is based in London, offers financial services software spanning retail banking, transaction banking, lending, and treasury and capital markets. It works with 90 of the world’s top 100 banks and its clients include BNP Paribas, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and United Arab Bank. 

By using Azure as a foundation for its software, Finastra can offer financial companies a range of services that have the highest legal, compliance and security considerations. Finastra and Microsoft already use Azure to support 3,000 banks and financial institutions in their work with payments, lending, treasury and retail banking. 

Using Azure has also helped Finastra step up its product roadmaps and place more solutions, such as the FusionFabric.cloud open innovation platform, in the cloud for its 8,500 customers to use.  

Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of Cloud and AI at Microsoft, said: “Finastra’s open developer platform, built on Microsoft Azure, is leading the way in accelerating collaboration and innovation in financial services. By helping with capabilities such as e-signatory and e-notary, Finastra is able to quickly extend those solutions for more customers. We’re thrilled to be working with Finastra to transform the future of financial services by accelerating its move to the cloud. Together we will fuel the digital transformation of financial services, and by delivering on operational efficiencies and reducing risk, we will help increase productivity and enable deeper client engagement.”

The latest agreement builds on a strategic alliance that Microsoft and Finastra signed in 2018 to deliver secure, flexible and cost–effective financial services cloud solutions.