Strategic Engineering Behind Modern Financial Services

By Vivek Daga

UK & Ireland MD and EMEA Financial Services Lead at GlobalLogic, Vivek Daga, explains why the future success of financial services hinges on engineering a unified ecosystem centred around innovative technologies, new value creation, and adaptability

Success in the financial services industry is no longer just about digital adoption. The integration of intelligence, trust, and adaptability is the new pillar of success. Execution is the defining factor separating high performers from the rest. To stay ahead of the curve, leaders must proactively engineer enterprise transformation.

While technology is undeniably crucial, it’s strategic architecture that will truly revolutionise the sector. It empowers new models of value creation, agility in the face of regulatory shifts, and sustainable performance in dynamic environments. In essence, the future of financial services hinges on the adept harnessing of three core forces: code, capital, and change.

Code as the foundation—unleashing the power of AI, platform engineering and real-time insights

Today, code is powering how leading institutions lend, serve customers, manage risk, and grow. To compete, organisations can’t just plug-and-play generative AI (GenAI) tools; they must build intelligent, composable frameworks that use AI, machine learning (ML), and cloud-native technologies.

Capital is the opportunity—rethinking value creation and monetisation

The finance business model is undergoing a radical transformation as institutions move beyond digital transformation to actively rewire their economic engines. Revenue now flows through embedded ecosystems. From tokenised assets to platform-led lending, leading institutions must rethink their business models to capture returns where they’re being generated. Capital isn’t static anymore. Decentralisation is reshaping how value is created, exchanged and monetised.

Change as the reality—engineering agile systems that absorb volatility and adapt swiftly

Change is no longer a byproduct of transformation; it’s a meticulously designed core capability. What was once an episodic occurrence is now a perpetual force, compelling financial organisations to rethink their governance, compliance, and protection strategies. To truly progress, firms must move beyond merely creating smarter solutions. They must account for both agility and sustainability from the outset. The ability to adapt securely, intelligently, and at scale, in real-time, will define the leaders of tomorrow.

Connecting code, capital and change

The future of the industry won’t be won on incremental improvements. It will be constructed at the intersection of code, capital and change. The institutions that lead the next era will build a unified, resilient, and intelligent ecosystem that transforms how value is created, delivered, and governed. Imagine the following scenario:

A prospective homeowner opens their fintech app. Within seconds, an AI-powered credit scoring system, designed with explainability and bias mitigation, delivers an eligibility decision—this is code at work.

The mortgage isn’t just approved, but tokenised, enabling fractional ownership and real-time settlement through secure, composable architecture—here’s where capital comes to the fore.

Real-time compliance, embedded via smart contracts and orchestrated with advanced observability, continuously monitors risk exposure and triggers know-your-customer (KYC) protocols—here we see change in play.

The result: No branches, no bottlenecks. Just seamless, intelligent, always-on financial services.

Code, capital and change in action—turning digital ecosystems into growth engines

Successfully implementing intelligent platforms that connect code, capital, and change relies on three fundamental shifts:

1. Embedding AI across every decision and workflow.
2. Enabling invisible, personalised, and integrated finance.
3. Ensuring compliance moves with the speed of innovation.

The potential is far bigger than any individual use case. It’s opening up entirely new frontiers in the sector. Here are just some of the ways we’re working with institutions to make this a reality.

Streamlining financial data classification: Manual classification processes slow down operations and increase the risk of errors. In a recent partnership between GlobalLogic and a leading provider of accounting and auditing solutions, we used GenAI to map report columns, categorise data into appropriate account groups, and built in continuous improvement through a feedback loop. As a result, the company achieved more than 90% accuracy, a 70-80% increase in analyst productivity, and a dramatically reduced turnaround time for reporting cycles.

Embedded finance: Payments are the connective tissue of global finance. What was once delayed and opaque must now be instant, transparent, and secure by design. When a leading U.S. bank turned to GlobalLogic to refine its embedded finance strategy and scale integrations to deliver measurable business advantages, we helped to establish an API Centre of Excellence, streamline integration documentation, and clarify operational roles across marketing, sales, and support. Faster integrations, reduced downtime, lower maintenance costs, and improved self-service were among the key outcomes.

AI-driven decision-making and personalisation: AI is fast becoming the core of decision-making. The shift is about more than achieving higher efficiency. It’s critical to stay relevant in a market where advanced analytics is the new competitive edge. In lending and operations, AI models are replacing rule-based systems with dynamic, data-rich assessments. Applications include:

• Evaluating creditworthiness using alternative data—from transaction patterns to behavioural signals, this approach broadens access and reduces effort. For instance, on its own, document management automation can reduce processing times by up to 60%, accelerating approvals and lowering costs.
• Rapidly evolving customer engagement—AI enables real-time personalisation, not just by segment, but also by individual. JPMorgan Chase, for example, uses Iris, an AI-powered virtual assistant, to manage basic enquiries, resolving 40% of issues without human agent involvement.
• Transforming risk at scale—AI and machine learning screens transactions for financial crime at pace and scale, meaning it’s tackled faster and more thoroughly. HSBC, for instance, checks 900 million transactions per month across 40 million customer accounts for signs of fraud.
• Conversational AI is helping to close the gap between digital efficiency and emotional connection. AI-powered chatbots enable personalised, real-time service that drives customer advocacy. Banks with the highest advocacy scores are growing their revenue 1.7 times faster than those with lower scores.

Engineering impact now

As the above use cases show, the future of the industry isn’t just being imagined. It’s being constructed right now. Leading organisations are re-architecting platforms, reinventing business models, and embedding trust and intelligence into every transaction, workflow, and decision.

The next era of financial services won’t be delivered by legacy thinking, siloed innovation and basic adoption. It will be built expertly, securely and at scale by those who engineer at the convergence of code, capital, and change.

About the Author 

Vivek Daga is the Managing Director for UK, Ireland and Emerging Markets and EMEA Leader for Financial Services and Consumer sectors. He is an entrepreneurial leader with extensive, global experience in building and leading high-performing teams. Vivek has worked extensively with clients across various industry verticals to shape and deliver technology-enabled solutions and services for enterprise modernisation and digital transformation.