PHOENIX International, a division of MC Systems, is modernising its core banking platform with a major upgrade to i2025, aiming to enhance digital banking capabilities and drive financial inclusion. The update introduces faster processing, improved payment channels, and a more efficient back-end infrastructure, addressing long-standing challenges in the industry.

“We were very far behind before. By implementing this upgrade we now have access to significantly more options,” revealed Commercial Director Dmitri Dawkins at its launch on Wednesday.

The previous platform was lagging behind in technological advancements, and Phoenix International recognised a common challenge among its customers — expensive core banking solutions with high operating costs and limited flexibility to customise systems to meet regional, cultural, and regulatory requirements. Dawkins highlighted that emerging markets operate within highly regulated banking environments. Unlike First World markets, these regions lack the advantage of a large population to offset the costs of technology adoption. As a result, he emphasised the need to adopt and commoditise technology, making it more affordable for indigenous financial institutions that have a deep understanding of local needs and interact with communities on a daily basis. Phoenix International is positioning itself as a key player in advancing financial inclusion and fintech adoption across emerging markets. The company aims to expand access to financial services, particularly for underbanked individuals who qualify for financial products but face barriers to obtaining them.

“When you wake up in the morning and you want to make some coffee, and you plug in your kettle or turn it on, you don’t expect it to not work; you just expect it to work — and that’s how we want financial transactions to process,” said Dawkins, alluding to the frequent service downtimes experienced by some banks.

The upgraded solution is designed to streamline access to financial services, enabling instant decision-making and providing clear updates on requested products. The i2025 platform now features a modernised technology stack that simplifies development, reduces operational costs, and minimises the need for large, back-office teams. The upgrade enhances transaction capabilities through teller interfaces and application programming interfaces (APIs) while extending product lifecycle support for newer hosting environments. Additionally, Phoenix International is looking to expand its fintech partnerships, offering a regulatory framework for fintech companies and facilitating transaction processing through its technology stack and API integration. The new upgrade is also designed to improve the speed of loan disbursement and enable universal spending, ensuring secure and seamless payment processing.

“The only way to get this universal payment framework is to make sure that we can integrate payment networks and payment processors as easily as possible through our API,” he stated.

The upgrade also addresses gaps that previously existed, enabling Phoenix International to fulfil requests from financial institutions that were not possible under the old technology stack. While the company has already begun expanding its offerings, work is still ongoing on certain interfaces, and a new teller application is expected to be released later this year, as it is not yet available in i2025. Under the previous technology stack the company was unable to utilise certain services, such as hosting on Microsoft Azure. The transition to Azure allows for a more streamlined infrastructure, reducing the number of technology layers and lowering costs by decreasing the number of users per server.

“We had to upgrade the drivetrain before we could do anything else. The primary focus was on the technology stack to ensure we have the capacity to add on new functionalities and features, based on what the entire customer group has been asking us for,” said Dawkins.