AI advancements are spotlighting cloud strategies as FIs look to scale new technologies while mitigating risk.  

Cloud-agnostic architectures, which allow applications and AI models to operate across multiple cloud providers, could help FIs stand out from the pack in 2026 and beyond, Mike Stawchansky, chief technology officer at fintech Finastra, told FinAi News.  

“We don’t know who is going to have the next breakthrough, whether it be quantum or the latest, greatest AI model that does something far above and beyond what its competitors are doing,” he said. “And if you’re locked into a specific hyperscaler or cloud provider, you may have a really hard time utilizing the latest and greatest technology as it comes out.” 

FIs that have moved toward a cloud-agnostic architecture, according to previous FinAi News reporting, include: 

• $4 trillion JPMorgan;
• $2.1 trillion Wells Fargo;
• $1.1 trillion ING; and
• Esh Bank. 

FIs looking to gain a competitive edge with their cloud-agnostic system should isolate monolithic legacy systems into modular components that can be incrementally modernized, Stawchansky said. That allows institutions to adopt new technologies quickly while keeping critical systems running, he said.  

Optimizing with AI 

AI is gaining importance in optimizing cloud-agnostic systems, particularly when testing and validating new technologies, Stawchansky said.  

“Whenever you make a change, whenever you add a new module, you want to have a complete view of the changes you’re making,” he said. “AI can help you. It can understand your code base far better than any single developer because it can hold all that context in its memory.” 

AI can identify how new modules intersect with legacy components and flag areas that require closer validation, Stawchansky said.  

“I’m really seeing a lot of advances in AI being able to allow us to more safely make software changes and do these things with a more confident approach.”

— Mike Stawchansky, CTO, Finastra

What about cloud-native? 

While cloud-agnostic architecture offers advantages in the AI revolution, many FIs are still choosing cloud-native systems, which are designed to maximize a specific cloud provider’s services for speed and scalability.  

Bank of Valletta, for example, recently deployed Oracle’s cloud-native AI agents for their ability to work across shared governance layers and deliver multistep outcomes at scale.  

According to cloud-cost intelligence platform CloudZero, companies must consider these factors when choosing between cloud-native and cloud-agnostic:

• Security and compliance;
• Integration and portability; and
• Monitoring solutions.  

Read coverage from FinAi Banking Summit here.