Metropolitan Commercial Bank has taken a bold step in payment modernization by fully retiring its legacy ACH mainframe and migrating to Finzly’s cloud-native, API-first platform. The transition is part of the bank’s broader “Modern Banking in Motion” initiative and positions MCB among the first U.S. financial institutions to completely decommission traditional ACH infrastructure in favor of a fully modernized system.
For decades, ACH processing has been deeply rooted in legacy mainframes, often viewed as too complex and mission-critical to replace outright. While many banks have experimented with running modern systems alongside older platforms, MCB has gone further—making Finzly its primary payment system and fully phasing out its previous ACH infrastructure. The shift demonstrates that comprehensive ACH cloud modernization, once considered impractical for most institutions, is now achievable.
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The timing aligns with mounting industry pressure. Financial institutions are preparing for Nacha’s March 2026 fraud monitoring requirements while also responding to rising client expectations for faster processing and real-time visibility. In fact, a recent American Banker webinar poll found that 84% of financial institutions believe the resilience of their current Fedwire and ACH infrastructure should be reassessed. The message is clear: the market is actively searching for scalable alternatives to aging systems.
Through Finzly’s unified platform, MCB has consolidated ACH, wires, and real-time payments into a single modular system. This approach allowed the bank to gradually surround and shrink legacy operations before eliminating them entirely. The result is near 100% straight-through processing for wires on an ISO 20022-native platform, reducing manual intervention and operational complexity.
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Mark R. DeFazio, Founder, President and CEO of Metropolitan Commercial Bank, described Finzly as a strong technology partner throughout the transformation. According to DeFazio, the modular approach enabled MCB to retire legacy ACH and wire systems safely, launch real-time payments, and enhance operational resilience. Beyond efficiency gains, he noted that the new platform positions the bank to scale its payments business, increase net interest income (NII), and reduce the cost of deposits.
Booshan Rengachari, Founder and CEO of Finzly, highlighted the significance of the milestone, noting that ACH has evolved over more than 50 years and remains one of the most complex payment rails. By completing this comprehensive cloud-native modernization—spanning ACH, wires, instant payments, and international payments MCB has set what he described as a bellwether moment for the industry.
Finzly’s platform supports continuous automatic updates, built-in compliance, and evolving regulatory requirements, helping banks stay ahead of changes without costly system overhauls. Its wire system was ISO 20022-ready well in advance of Federal Reserve and SWIFT deadlines, allowing compliant message processing without translation layers. Similarly, MCB and other Finzly clients are positioned to meet Nacha’s 2026 compliance requirements through automated updates embedded within the platform.
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For MCB, retiring its ACH mainframe is more than a technology upgrade—it represents a shift toward greater resilience, operational simplicity, and client-centric payment experiences. For the broader industry, it signals that full-scale payment rail modernization is no longer theoretical, but a practical and increasingly necessary step in the evolution of modern banking
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