Principles for Strong Bank-Core Provider Relationships

Core technology is central to a bank’s ability to remain competitive and customer-centric. This compilation of banking industry Principles was developed by the American Bankers Association’s Core Platforms Committee, which was formed to identify actions that can strengthen the relationship between banks and their core providers so banks can deliver the innovative products and services customers want and need.

Banking and financial services are changing at a rapid pace, and consumers have high expectations for their banks’ delivery of products and services. To meet these expectations and continue to evolve and offer the next generation of products and services, community and midsize banks need dynamic, responsive relationships with their core providers.

The Principles offer reasonable standards under which a bank’s relationship with its core provider, and its customer base, can thrive. Fair and transparent contracts, adoption of technologies outside of the core provider offering and access to customer data are achievable standards that will allow banks to be innovative and competitive.

The Committee believes these Principles are the foundation for a strong bank-core relationship. Banks are encouraged to discuss these Principles when engaging with their core providers, and core providers are encouraged to embrace these Principles as they continue to work with their bank customers. Ultimately the terms of any contractual relationship between banks and their partners must be negotiated between the two parties. The Committee believes that incorporating these Principles will help banks meet the technology demands of their customers while strengthening the business relationships between banks and their core providers.

Quality Service

• The right to on-time, high-quality, exceptional customer service from our core providers.
• The right to engage with all providers, within and outside of core provider relationships, that lead the way with innovative and creative service offerings to ensure that banks offer the best and most up to date technology and services to their customers.
• The right to service level agreements (SLAs) that are meaningful and relevant for the industry and are easily determined and calculable.
• The right to regularly provided performance reporting against SLAs.

Responsive and Open Communication

• The right to open and transparent communications with our core providers including interacting with accountable and empowered individuals.
• The right to one subject-matter-expert point of contact for each service line within a core provider who will manage all our technical issues and concerns.
• The right to a clear, up-front explanation of all the costs for network and data processing services with no hidden fees or unexpected costs, with all fees listed in contracts and easily reconcilable to monthly or annual billing statements.
• The right to concise, streamlined and easy-to-read billing statements.
• The right to transparency into our core providers’ research and development efforts, and the timeframes for implementation.

Access to Bank Data

• The right to easily access and manage all our data held by a core provider and any third-party technology provider delivered by the core.
• The right to access all our data from our core providers through APIs. Banks are entitled to access their data—both primary and derivative.

Fair Contracts

• The right to fair and equitable deconversion fees, based on the time, material and actual effort expended.
• The right to contract terms that support the bank’s business strategy and goals.
• The right to exit a contract without penalty if the core provider is unable to deliver the contracted solution(s).
• The right to a no-cost migration to a newer platform offered by the existing core provider.
• The right to clear contract provisions that assign liability to the core provider for those service problems that it causes.
• The right to reasonable and fully disclosed termination fees.
• The right to minimize or remove exclusivity provisions thereby enabling banks to utilize services outside of the core provider and encouraging industry innovation.
• The right to a contractual relationship that fosters innovation, including reasonable integration fees. Banks must be free to choose and to implement technology partners without penalty.
• The right to coterminous contracts.

Security and Protection

• The right to the highest standard of industry leading data protection and privacy.
• The right to be notified of core provider data breaches in a timely manner.
• The right to fair acceptance of liability by a core provider that is a source of a data breach that affects the bank.
• The right to have core providers continually upgrade their sources and methods to comply with evolving industry best practices and data protection standards and frameworks.
• The right to have information security and data protection enhancement costs reasonably built into product pricing so that banks are not subject to additional security surcharges.
• The right to any security and configuration data, audits and assessments necessary to satisfy the oversight requirements of banking regulators.