Defence Bank is a member-owned bank primarily serving the Australian Defence Force (ADF) community, Department of Defence employees, and their families with banking and lending services.
Celebrating over 50 years of service, Defence Bank now supports more than 80,000 members across Australia, building a proud history of supporting and giving back to the community.
Like many mid-sized, member-owned banks, Defence Bank is navigating a rapidly changing environment shaped by increasing regulatory requirements, heightened cybersecurity needs, and rapidly evolving member expectations. These shifts are creating a need to modernise and simplify core systems, while also ensuring the right decisions are made about the technology and platforms that will support the Bank’s future direction.
With their current core banking contract approaching renewal, this provided a critical decision point for Defence Bank. It presented an opportunity to evaluate the market, assessing whether alternative platforms could deliver greater value and better position the Bank to support positive member outcomes as the landscape evolves.
Escient was engaged to help navigate this decision, bringing proven approach to market for the mutual sector, deep experience in mutual banking, strong vendor relationships, and a practical understanding of banking technology. We carried out a detailed market scan and worked with vendors to explore leading and emerging core banking platform solutions, with the goal of providing Defence Bank with clarity about their options and the key considerations needed to make informed decisions.
Working rapidly with key stakeholders, we identified the Bank’s strategic priorities and defined what success would look like. Drawing on targeted market insights, we explored the relevant solutions and defined clear inputs for vendors.
We then engaged shortlisted vendors through a structured, time-bound process, providing clear guidance so expectations were aligned from the outset.
We assessed each vendor’s proposed solution against Defence Bank’s priorities, weighing up capability, feasibility, cost, and risk. This gave Defence Bank a balanced comparison of options and what each would mean for both transition and long-term strategy.
We brought these insights together into actionable recommendations, outlining viable platform options and their trade-offs, giving Defence Bank a solid basis for shaping their future direction and moving forward with confidence.
By drawing on Escient’s experience in the mutual sector and established industry relationships, Defence Bank was able to complete a focused, efficient assessment with minimal demand on internal capacity, accelerated vendor engagement, and tangible input into their strategy.
Escient brought real clarity to a big decision for us.
Their market knowledge and vendor connections stood out, and the process gave us the confidence to move forward on our core banking transformation.
— Sean O’Donnell, Chief Technology Officer
Defence Bank
The engagement delivered a clear, objective view of the core banking market, giving Defence Bank’s executive team and Board a firm evidence base to make informed strategy, technology, and contractual decisions.
With leadership aligned on a strategic direction, Defence Bank has clarity about their transformation path and is well positioned to move forward confidently with their technology strategy.
