UST FinX, the financial services platform from UST, and Thought Machine, the cloud-native banking technology company, today announced a strategic partnership that makes enterprise-grade banking technology accessible to financial institutions of all sizes.

Initially, the partnership will target its advantages for mid-tier US banks and credit unions, a segment heavily constrained by outdated IT systems and extensive procurement processes. Previously, the only option had been to undertake risky, resource-intensive transformation projects to address constantly evolving client and operational demands. The UST FinX and Thought Machine proposition unlocks a very different path for such institutions, one that delivers rapid transformational outcomes, providing significant value to the institutions and their stakeholders.

UST FinX's integration-ready platform delivers access to a rapidly expanding ecosystem of fintech banking capabilities, including Thought Machine's best-in-class digital core. This powerful union unlocks short-term gains in both customer and user experience while possessing the foundational architecture for a longer-term full-scale transformation. This is done via a more iterative, customer-driven, and progressive approach that dramatically reduces both risk and cost.

Many US community institutions now realise that their core systems lack the basic integration capabilities required to meet growing customer demands or connect to modern fintech solutions. This forces them to build complex workarounds and custom code that becomes increasingly difficult and costly to maintain. UST FinX and Thought Machine's partnership breaks this cycle of complexity by offering an integration-ready platform that connects easily to new services without requiring custom development.

This gives institutions a predictable, managed approach to launching new products and improving customer experiences, while UST FinX handles the technical complexity and partner ecosystem, providing clear timelines and certainty of costs and outcomes for modernisation projects.

Gareth Richardson, Chief Operating Officer, Thought Machine, said, "Combining Thought Machine's cloud-native technology with UST FinX's financial services platform and capabilities allows banks of all sizes, especially those in the US mid-tier market, to access our core banking technology without the complexities of technical integrations. We're excited to see how our joint clients prosper using the offering over the coming months."

Sandeep Lalwani, Head of UST FinX, said, "Community banks and credit unions in the US are facing an existential crisis in terms of remaining relevant within an increasingly competitive and digitally driven landscape with customers and staff now expecting much more. The need for transformational change is already upon us and until now, the choices open to such organisations have been fraught with complexity, cost and risk. This strategic partnership with Thought Machine is a game-changer in our industry that will enable these mid-tier financial institutions to remain relevant, innovate, and thrive!"