Mission-Critical Modernization: CBA’s Core Banking Migration

An episode of the AWS Executive Insights podcast, hosted by Amazon Web Services, titled "Mission-Critical Modernization: CBA’s Core Banking Migration" was published on February 16, 2026 and runs 22 minutes.

February 16, 2026 ·22m · AWS Executive Insights

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Summary

What does it take to migrate the heart of a nation’s banking system to the cloud? In this AWS Executive Insights fireside chat, Ben Cabanas sits down with Simon Davies, GM of Core Banking at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, to unpack one of the most mission-critical cloud transformations in financial services. With nearly 40% of Australia’s liquidity flowing through CBA’s core platform, the stakes were enormous. Simon shares how CBA migrated the world’s largest SAP core banking deployment to AWS while improving reliability, reducing infrastructure costs by 30%, and enabling real-time customer experiences. Beyond the technical achievement, he reveals how transparency, cultural alignment, and a rallying cry of “believe” helped mobilize thousands across the organization to deliver change at national scale.

Episode Description

What does it take to migrate the heart of a nation’s banking system to the cloud?

In this AWS Executive Insights fireside chat, Ben Cabanas sits down with Simon Davies, GM of Core Banking at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, to unpack one of the most mission-critical cloud transformations in financial services. With nearly 40% of Australia’s liquidity flowing through CBA’s core platform, the stakes were enormous.

Simon shares how CBA migrated the world’s largest SAP core banking deployment to AWS while improving reliability, reducing infrastructure costs by 30%, and enabling real-time customer experiences. Beyond the technical achievement, he reveals how transparency, cultural alignment, and a rallying cry of “believe” helped mobilize thousands across the organization to deliver change at national scale.