In the rapidly evolving world of financial services, legacy systems are more than a technical hurdle—they are a barrier to agility, innovation, and sustainable growth. As customer expectations rise and regulatory demands intensify, banks and insurers must modernize their technology foundations to remain competitive. At the heart of this transformation is the need for resilient, scalable, and compliant digital platforms that enable real-time data access, rapid product development, and operational excellence. Publicis Sapient’s Speed Layer is a foundational enabler in this journey, accelerating cloud migration, microservices adoption, and regulatory compliance for financial institutions.
Decades-old core systems, fragmented data, and siloed operations are common across the financial sector. These environments make it difficult to respond quickly to market changes, integrate new technologies, or comply with shifting regulatory requirements. The cost of inaction is significant: slow time-to-market, increased operational risk, and missed opportunities for growth and innovation. Modernization is not just about replacing old technology—it’s about reimagining how organizations operate, deliver value, and respond to change.
Speed Layer is a data streaming platform designed to unlock data trapped in legacy systems, boost resilience, and enable real-time engagement experiences. By leveraging modern data streaming technologies and cloud-native architectures, Speed Layer delivers:
Speed Layer acts as a near real-time cache, collecting changes from legacy systems of record using change data capture and streaming technologies. This data is then made available to digital channels and applications via microservices and APIs, enabling seamless integration and rapid innovation without disrupting core systems.
Publicis Sapient embeds agile principles across engineering teams, shifting from project-based to product-based thinking. This enables rapid iteration, continuous learning, and faster delivery of new features and regulatory changes. By adopting agile, lean, and DevOps methodologies, financial institutions can iterate, test, and learn rapidly, ensuring that modernization efforts are always aligned with evolving business and customer needs.
Cloud adoption is foundational to modern financial services. Speed Layer is designed to operate in cloud environments or on-premises, leveraging industry-standard open-source technologies for scalability and resilience. Migrating critical workloads to the cloud reduces costs, increases agility, and enhances compliance, disaster recovery, and the ability to innovate at scale. Publicis Sapient’s partnerships with leading cloud providers ensure secure, scalable, and compliant cloud transformations.
Modernizing monolithic legacy systems through microservices and APIs accelerates digital innovation and enables seamless integration of new technologies, including AI and advanced analytics. Speed Layer’s architecture supports this modular approach, allowing for stronger collaboration across the enterprise and rapid deployment of new digital products.
Security and regulatory compliance are embedded from the outset. Speed Layer solutions ingrain robust controls, automated testing, and continuous monitoring to ensure every digital product meets the highest standards for data protection and regulatory adherence. Automated data quality, lineage, and lifecycle management further support compliance with regulations such as GDPR and ESMA.
Speed Layer unlocks the power of data by connecting and refining it across the enterprise, making it actionable for both compliance and customer experience initiatives. Real-time data access enables predictive analytics, personalized services, and strategic business insights, driving measurable business value.
Nationwide partnered with Publicis Sapient to transform its technological foundation and ensure 24/7 data availability for digital product services. By implementing Speed Layer, Nationwide created a robust ecosystem of digital services resilient to outages and downtime. Key outcomes included:
Speed Layer enabled Nationwide to decouple customer-facing digital capabilities from slower-moving legacy systems, standardize data access, and launch more customer-focused products. The platform’s resilience and scalability empowered Nationwide to innovate rapidly, delivering richer experiences to members and supporting future use cases such as real-time notifications and fraud monitoring.
Lloyds Banking Group, one of the UK’s largest banks, undertook a major transformation with Publicis Sapient as a key partner. By integrating SPEED capabilities and adopting Speed Layer, Lloyds achieved:
Initiatives included core banking modernization, cloud foundation, and the creation of data platforms. The result was faster product releases, improved customer experiences, and a foundation for ongoing innovation—such as reducing business account opening times from 30 days to 48 hours and launching pioneering journeys on cloud platforms.
Financial institutions leveraging Speed Layer and Publicis Sapient’s engineering strategies realize tangible benefits:
Modernization is not a one-time event—it’s a journey of perpetual evolution. By embedding engineering excellence, cloud-native platforms, and data-driven strategies at the core, financial institutions can adapt, innovate, and create value continuously. Speed Layer is the catalyst that accelerates this journey, enabling organizations to unlock their data potential, future-proof their operations, and deliver on the promise of digital financial services.
Ready to accelerate your engineering transformation? Connect with Publicis Sapient to learn how Speed Layer can help your organization thrive in the digital age.