What is the SPARK Matrix™
The SPARK Matrix™, developed by QKS Group, is a proprietary competitive intelligence and benchmarking framework that evaluates technology vendors across two core dimensions: Technology Excellence and Customer Impact. It provides a data-driven, visual representation of how vendors perform against defined market standards, enabling enterprises to assess supplier capabilities, strategic direction, and operational maturity in a single analytical view.
In the context of Retail Core Banking Systems, the SPARK Matrix™ evaluates vendors on their ability to deliver scalable, cloud-native, real-time, secure, and regulation-ready core platforms that support deposits, lending, payments, customer lifecycle, and digital ecosystem integration.
According to Akhilesh Vundavalli, Principal Analyst at QKS Group, “Retail Core Banking Systems across EMEA and APAC are entering a transformative phase where agility, intelligence, and compliance must coexist by design. Banks in both regions are accelerating their move toward cloud-native, API-first core architectures that can handle real-time payments, multi-rail processing, and high-volume digital engagement. While EMEA’s modernization is shaped by stringent regulatory frameworks, open finance mandates, and rising cybersecurity demands, APAC’s momentum is fueled by digital-native consumers, hyper-scale transaction environments, and fierce competition from fintechs and super-app ecosystems. As institutions navigate diverse regulatory landscapes, heightened fraud risks, and evolving customer expectations, the next generation of retail core platforms will be defined by adaptive compliance, predictive intelligence, and the ability to deliver frictionless, context-aware experiences at scale across both mature and high-growth markets.”
Why the SPARK Matrix™ Matters
Core banking transformation is a high-risk, long-term, and capital-intensive strategic decision. Banks cannot rely on product demos or feature comparisons alone. The SPARK Matrix™ matters because it:
- Provides objective vendor benchmarking across standardized performance parameters
- Evaluates both technology depth and real-world market performance
- Helps banks identify long-term platform viability, not just short-term functionality
- Supports decisions related to M&A, partnerships, geographic expansion, and platform migration
- Reduces vendor-selection risk through proven customer references, deployment maturity, and roadmap validation
For decision-makers in EMEA and APAC, the SPARK Matrix™ acts as a strategic navigation tool for selecting future-ready retail core platforms aligned with regulatory, digital, and ecosystem banking demands.
Key Findings from the SPARK Matrix™ 2025
Cloud-Native Transformation with Regional Nuances: While both EMEA and APAC are rapidly adopting cloud-native, microservices-based cores, deployment preferences differ significantly. EMEA banks prioritize hybrid and sovereign cloud models to address data sovereignty and regulatory constraints, whereas APAC markets such as India, Singapore, and Australia are aggressively embracing public-cloud and SaaS cores for cost efficiency and speed.
Composable & API-First Architectures: Banks across both regions are shifting away from monolithic core replacements toward modular, API-driven modernization. Composable architectures allow selective modernization of deposits, lending, and payments while minimizing systemic risk.
Embedded Finance and Ecosystem Banking: Retail core platforms are now foundational enablers of embedded finance. In EMEA, financial services are being embedded into retail and mobility ecosystems, while in APAC, partnerships with super apps such as Grab, Gojek, WeChat, and Paytm are reshaping acquisition and engagement strategies.
Islamic Banking and Multi-Entity Complexity: Support for Islamic finance, multi-currency, and multi-jurisdiction operations has transitioned from a differentiator to a baseline requirement across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and emerging APAC markets.
Regulation as a Primary Modernization Catalyst: Frameworks such as PSD2, GDPR, CDR, UPI, and MAS Open Finance are compelling banks to modernize their cores for secure data sharing, consent management, and ecosystem interoperability.
Market Insights: EMEA vs Asia Pacific
EMEA Market Dynamics
- Strong regulatory push toward open banking transparency and data privacy
- Preference for sovereign cloud and controlled deployment models
- High demand for deep regulatory reporting, tax compliance, and auditability
- Mature adoption of embedded payments, instant settlement, and SEPA rails
Asia Pacific Market Dynamics
- Rapid acceleration of digital-first, mobile-centric banking models
- Widespread acceptance of public-cloud SaaS core platforms
- Strong alignment with Aadhaar, UPI, account aggregators, and real-time payments
- High focus on financial inclusion, micro-lending, wallets, and super-app ecosystems
APAC banking transformation is driven primarily by scale and speed, while EMEA emphasizes control, compliance, and governance.
Vendor Positions and Why They Are Placed There
The SPARK Matrix™ positions vendors based on their relative performance across Technology Excellence (X-axis) and Customer Impact (Y-axis). Vendors in the SPARK Leaders quadrant demonstrate both advanced core banking technology and strong, proven market adoption. Strong Contenders show solid technological capability but comparatively moderate customer impact or regional concentration. Aspirants represent early-stage or regionally limited players with foundational offerings.
Who are the SPARK Leaders?
Thought Machine (https://www.thoughtmachine.net) is positioned at the top of the Leader quadrant, reflecting its strongest score in Technology Excellence and one of the highest in Customer Impact. Its placement is driven by its fully cloud-native, smart-contract-based Vault Core platform, real-time event-driven ledger, and deep API-first composability. Thought Machine’s ability to enable programmable banking products at scale, combined with growing Tier-1 bank adoption in Europe, the US, and APAC, justifies its top-right positioning as a technology-forward Leader.
Finastra (Essence) (https://www.finastra.com) holds a firm Leader position due to its enterprise-grade cloud-first architecture, strong payments orchestration, and broad functional depth across retail, corporate, and Islamic banking. Essence’s strong Customer Impact is supported by its extensive installed base across EMEA and APAC, multi-rail payment processing, and its open fintech ecosystem via FusionFabric.cloud. The balance between technical maturity and large-scale deployments places Finastra securely among the top Leaders.
Infosys Finacle (https://www.edgeverve.com/finacle) is positioned as a high Customer Impact Leader with strong Technology Excellence. Its placement is supported by its dominance in high-volume transaction environments, especially across India, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Finacle’s strength lies in its real-time retail banking, UPI-scale payment processing, regulatory automation, and large national bank deployments, making it one of the most widely trusted platforms for mass-scale digital banking.
Temenos (https://www.temenos.com) remains a core Leader due to its broad universal banking coverage, mature open banking framework, 700+ APIs, and embedded AI capabilities. Temenos Transact supports complex multi-entity, multi-currency retail and corporate operations at scale. Its strong regulatory compliance, deep partner ecosystem, and significant Tier-1 adoption across Europe, the Middle East, and APAC secure its high placement along both axes of the matrix.
10x Banking (https://www.10xbanking.com) is positioned as a high Technology Excellence Leader with rapidly rising Customer Impact. Its Meta Core and SuperCore™ Fabric architecture separates the core ledger from product logic, enabling real-time, event-driven, scalable digital banking innovation. The platform’s Kafka-based streaming and extreme configurability make it technologically advanced. However, while customer adoption is growing quickly, especially in Europe and Australia, it still trails the most entrenched enterprise leaders in absolute global scale.
SBS (Digital Core) (https://sbs-software.com) is also positioned in the Leader quadrant, reflecting its transition into a true cloud-native, microservices-based SaaS core platform. Its ISO 20022–aligned payments hub, European regulatory integration, and native linkage with the SBS Digital Banking Suite contribute to its strong Technology Excellence. Its Customer Impact is rising but remains below the very top Leaders due to a comparatively shorter track record of large Tier-1 live deployments.
Tuum (https://www.tuum.com) appears within the Leader quadrant on the basis of its progressive modernization model, sidecar migrations, payments orchestration, and strong digital banking product factory. Tuum’s placement reflects high Technology Excellence driven by API-first modularity and cloud-native deployment. Its relatively mid-range Customer Impact, compared with Temenos or Finastra, reflects its younger market presence and primary focus on neobanks and BaaS players rather than very large incumbent banks.
Who are the Strong Contenders?
SAP Fioneer (https://www.sapfioneer.com) is positioned in the upper Strong Contender zone, close to the Leader boundary. Its TRBK platform, built on SAP S/4HANA, delivers real-time in-memory transaction processing, IFRS-compliant lending, and deep enterprise finance integration. While its technology maturity is strong, its Customer Impact is moderated by high implementation complexity, SAP ecosystem dependency, and longer transformation cycles, which affect speed of adoption across mid-tier banks.
Oracle FLEXCUBE (https://www.oracle.com/industries/financial-services) sits within the Strong Contender quadrant due to its legacy strength in universal and retail banking processing and large installed base across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. However, its slower evolution toward fully cloud-native, composable microservices and heavier monolithic architecture constrain its Technology Excellence score relative to next-generation platforms.
Mambu (https://www.mambu.com) is positioned as a Strong Contender because of its pure SaaS, API-first composable architecture and rapid digital bank adoption. Its strength lies in fast product deployment, ecosystem connectivity, and fintech integrations. However, limitations in high-volume transaction depth, treasury and corporate banking support, and reliance on third-party AI restrict its ability to compete head-to-head with universal bank leaders.
Avaloq (https://www.avaloq.com) appears in the lower Strong Contender region due to its strong specialization in wealth management, securities processing, and private banking operations. While the platform is robust for high-net-worth and investment-driven institutions, its high cost of ownership, legacy core components, and limited suitability for mass retail digital transformation reduce its overall Customer Impact in the wider retail core banking landscape.
Silverlake Axis (https://www.silverlakeaxis.com) is positioned near the lower boundary of the Strong Contenders. It demonstrates strong regional execution in Southeast Asia, supported by its SIBS core and hybrid modernization strategies. However, limited hyperscale cloud elasticity, absence of embedded AI, and weaker global regulatory localization beyond ASEAN constrain both its Technology Excellence and broader Customer Impact.
Who are the Aspirants?
Kiya.ai (https://www.kiya.ai) is the sole vendor positioned in the Aspirants quadrant. The platform demonstrates strengths in cost-effective modular core banking, RBI-aligned regulatory reporting, cooperative bank enablement, and emerging-market inclusion use cases. However, its positioning reflects limited Tier-1 scalability, modest cloud-native depth, restricted global deployments, and reliance on external AI modules, which currently cap both its Technology Excellence and Customer Impact scores in the broader EMEA and APAC market.
What to Expect in 2026
By 2026, retail core banking in EMEA and APAC is expected to witness:
- Acceleration of SaaS core adoption even among incumbent banks
- Deeper AI integration into core workflows for fraud, credit, compliance, and customer engagement
- Growth of composable banking marketplaces driven by API monetization
- Wider adoption of embedded finance by non-bank platforms
- Increased regulatory automation through predictive compliance and real-time reporting
- Expansion of sovereign cloud frameworks in Europe and the Middle East
- Greater convergence between core banking, payment hubs, and digital wallets
The competitive battlefield will increasingly shift from core transaction processing to intelligence, orchestration, and ecosystem readiness.
Conclusion
The QKS Group SPARK Matrix™ 2025 for Retail Core Banking Systems in EMEA and Asia Pacific clearly demonstrates that core banking is no longer a static backend utility, it is now the strategic digital backbone of modern banking.
Banks must align their core modernization strategies with:
- Cloud and regulatory realities
- API-led ecosystem integration
- Embedded finance monetization models
- AI-driven operational intelligence
- Progressive modernization rather than disruptive “big-bang” migration
The SPARK Matrix™ provides a critical decision-support framework for banks navigating this transformation. By objectively benchmarking vendors across Technology Excellence and Customer Impact, it empowers institutions to make confident, future-ready core banking investments in an increasingly complex and competitive digital ecosystem.