A new study from HFS Research, in collaboration with Unqork, highlights how financial services firms—including banks, asset managers, wealth platforms, and capital markets providers—can rethink technology investments to reduce technical debt and unlock faster delivery of secure, modern applications.
The Strategic Cost of Tech Debt
The study confirms what most leaders already know. Financial institutions are spending more—often much more—on maintenance and tech debt than on software itself. The complex, regulated environments in which these organizations operate compound the problem.
- Firms commonly spend 2–7× software license costs on integration, implementation, and ongoing maintenance.
- 86% said technical debt blocks strategy
- Only 18% of large transformation budgets go to software
AI Alone Won’t Save the Day
While firms believe that AI will cut costs, there are lurking concerns. According to the study, 43% of respondents expect AI to increase technical debt—not decrease it. Their top concerns around AI-related tech debt include:
- Security vulnerabilities (59%)
- Legacy integration complexity (50%)
- Loss of visibility (42%)
“If your architecture is brittle and code-heavy, AI will accelerate the chaos, not cure it,” finds Phil Fersht, CEO and Chief Analyst, HFS Research.
The Solution: The Componentized No-Code Platform
So, what can financial services firms do to move beyond code-heavy development models and the tech debt they perpetuate?
A way forward, according to HFS’s Hansa Iyengar, Practice Leader and Research Author, lies in componentized, no-code platforms.
“They offer a way to break free from the maintenance treadmill and focus resources where they matter most—innovation and adaptability,” she writes.
In fact, some of the world’s leading financial services organizations, including JPMorgan Chase, Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, and First Manhattan, are taking this approach, thanks to Unqork’s AI-first enterprise application platform.
JPMorgan Chase: Building a COE
JPMorgan Chase is a very large, very complex organization that handles complex, high-stakes transactions. Yet the company was still handling thousands of processes manually.
Using an unfederated model, JPMC formed teams, including both citizen developers and power users, within each of the company’s lines of business and corporate functions. The result: the ability to quickly deliver the solutions that the business needs.
“With technologies like Unqork, you’re not writing requirements and sending it over to someone. It’s an opportunity to disrupt even the agile framework—to basically build live,” explains Guddu Money, Former Head of Process Engineering, Asset and Wealth Management, JPMC.
Federal Home Loan Bank of New York: From Java to Modern
With $160+ billion in assets, the bank’s mission is to provide members with prompt, on-demand liquidity in support of housing, local community development, and financial stability. A legacy Java-based tech stack and mounting levels of technical debt were holding back innovation. Strict security and compliance mandates compounded the challenges.
With Unqork, the bank modernized 5 Java-based legacy applications in a matter of months. Uses cases included an automated clearing house, a pledging app, and SK repair.
“With the help of Unqork, it’s likely that we will replace 100% of our Java apps over the course of time, and every single one gets off the treadmill,” says Michael Radziemski, CIO at FHLBNY.
First Manhattan: Modern Customer & Advisor Experiences
Relentlessly focused on the customer experience, investment advisory firm First Manhattan wanted to modernize, digitize, and automate client and advisor experiences. However, the firm wanted to achieve these goals while minimizing technology overhead and future tech debt.
To achieve do so, First Manhattan implemented Unqork and used it as a powerful UI, integration, and orchestration layer that seamlessly connects with legacy systems and third-party software. Unqork also handles ongoing maintenance and security requirements throughout the applications’ lifecycle, significantly reducing ROI.
In just 12 months, First Manhattan’s cross-functional team was able to roll out an end-to-end client onboarding and account opening experience. The team then turned to building the client portal, which it delivered just over a year later.
“With Unqork, we were able to create and customize things in a highly bespoke and ever-evolving way,” says Graham Clifford, Chief Technology Officer, First Manhattan.
>> Read the full First Manhattan case study