Core Banking Systems
The buyer population — Depository credit intermediation
Base industry report for 5221 →- Establishments · CanadaA
- 8,368
- Under 10 employeesA
- 19%
- Establishments · USA
- 109,816
- Employment · USA
- 1,927,517
- Payroll · USA
- $186.8B
Of 8,368 Canadian establishments with employees, 19% have fewer than ten — weighted toward mid-sized establishments. Each of those is one potential account, before any filter for size or fit.
Entry signal — what decides who wins here
Structure decidesThe binding constraint is not executional. Being better than the incumbent does not, by itself, get you in — this one is cleared with capital, an asset, or a permission.
Raise or borrow the entry ticket, or buy an operator who has already paid it. The barrier is money rather than permission, so it yields to a balance sheet — and an acquisition is usually cheaper than a start.
Measured, not forecast: the share of US establishments opening in one year that were still active later. It counts good operators and bad ones together, which is exactly why it is the honest answer to “what are the odds”. It is for the whole sector rather than this market, and the ten-year figure comes from an older cohort because no younger one has reached ten years.
This is not a probability of success, and it is not a verdict on you. No survival probability is published per market, and inventing one would be worse than saying so. What the bar reads is how much of the outcome sits inside an operator's control: green means the hurdles are ones a better operator clears, red means the binding constraint is capital, an asset or a permission rather than execution. Someone arriving with an advantage this screen did not assume can win a market shown in red.
Companies named in this market · 8
The binding constraint — entry cost
A core replacement is the single riskiest project a bank undertakes — ledger, deposits, payments and regulatory reporting move at once — so cores are replaced roughly once a generation. The incumbents' position rests on that, not on product quality. The modern challengers (Mambu, Thought Machine, 10x) have each raised hundreds of millions and are still fighting for reference customers a decade in.
Sectors joined: FinTech · Fintech · Web3 · Financial Technology · Financial Services · Fintech SaaS
[UNVERIFIED] Sector-to-NAICS mapping is analyst judgment — see data/angel-sector-map.json. Counts are a per-record cross-reference and are not additive across records.
The incumbent
Who owns this market and who is coming for it. Fields a screen never reached say so rather than guessing.
Financials & market size — sourced
Figures that came from a filing, a results release or reputable reporting, each carrying its evidence tier.
The field
Every vendor named on this record, and what each one discloses. Most disclose nothing, which is why the market is not sized.
Competitor set · 4 named · 0 disclose revenue · 3 with a published share
| Name | Revenue | Share | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| FiservNYSE: FIA | not disclosed | 42% | 42% of banks / 31% of credit unions. Total revenue spans far beyond core banking, so it is not used as a core-market proxy |
| Jack HenryNASDAQ: JKHYA | not disclosed | 21% | 21% of banks / 12% of credit unions |
| FISNYSE: FISA | not disclosed | 9% | 9% of banks / 3% of credit unions |
| Temenos / Mambu / Thought Machine / 10xC | not disclosed | — | Modern challengers; limited North American core wins |
Nobody here publishes revenue. The market is not sized for that reason — an estimate built on nothing would only look like knowledge.
Startups & challengers
Newer and smaller vendors going at the incumbent — funded challengers first. Named, not researched to the depth of the field above; a company with a page here links to it.
Evidence
Evidence. Incumbent financials and market-share figures on this record ARE sourced (tier A/B, see the financials block). The Jack Henry line was refreshed from the FY2026 Form 10-K (fiscal year ended 2026-06-30, filed 2026-08-28): revenue $2,544,339 thousand vs $2,375,288 thousand in FY2025, diluted EPS $6.98 vs $6.24. The Fiserv and FIS lines are calendar-year filers whose latest annual figures remain FY2025 and were not re-opened here. Jack Henry's competitor row keeps revenue null on purpose: like Fiserv's, total revenue spans well beyond core banking and is not used as a core-market proxy. The cut factor and reasoning remain analyst judgment and were not tested against customers.
Where the industry talks
The associations, forums and events where people in this trade actually talk shop — where to listen before entering, and where the first customers are found. Each link was opened on the date shown.
National body for Canada's domestic and foreign banks since 1891; research, operational support and policy. No member count read on the site.
National association for credit unions outside Quebec - the Canadian mid-tier core buyers; runs conferences, CUES Canada and a members-only login. No member count read.
Community banks - the US core-replacement mid-market; corporate membership for vendors, ThinkTECH accelerator, ICBA LIVE convention. No member count stated.
Main US banking association; Annual Convention 25-27 Oct 2026, Salt Lake City, with an Innovation Forum on core platforms. Blocked automated access.
BAI merged with RMA into ProSight; bai.org now redirects here. Non-lobbying body for bank operations, risk and technology; member forum and directory.
Weekly fintech and banking podcast (Brett King, Jason Henrichs, JP Nicols); latest episode 17 Sept 2026. breakingbanks.com redirects here.
Consultancy blog with a dedicated Core Processing topic; where core-vendor contract and conversion talk happens. Posts dated 11 Sept 2026.
Daily US banking trade title (Arizent); covers core-vendor deals and conversions. Paid subscription.
Money20/20 USA (18-21 Oct 2026, Las Vegas) is live but is a payments/fintech show rather than a core-banking buyer venue. Bank Automation News and FinTech Futures block automated access; r/fintech could not be reached.