Infrastructure Architecture Modernization at OzBank Financial: A Banking Case Study

Infrastructure Architecture Modernization at OzBank Financial: A Banking Case Study

Case Study Background

OzBank Financial Group, one of Australia's "Big Five" banks with operations across the Asia-Pacific region, is facing unprecedented challenges in infrastructure modernization. Headquartered in Sydney with regional Centers of Excellence (CoE) in Bangalore and Gurugram, the bank operates critical systems serving over 45,000 employees and millions of customers across retail, corporate, and investment banking divisions.
Ms. Samantha Jenkins, CEO of OzBank, recently unveiled the bank's "Vision 2035: Building Financial Futures" strategic plan that emphasizes digital transformation, customer-centricity, and operational resilience. "Our industry is experiencing rapid disruption," notes Ms. Jenkins. "To succeed in this environment, we need infrastructure that is secure, scalable, and supports innovation. Our technology infrastructure is the critical enabler of exceptional customer experiences and innovative solutions."
Dr. Arjun Rao, CTO of OzBank, has identified several critical infrastructure challenges:
  • Heavy dependency on legacy mainframe systems limiting agility and innovation
  • 99.99% uptime requirements for mission-critical banking systems
  • Multi-region compliance requirements across Australia, India, and other Asia-Pacific markets
  • Need for hybrid cloud architecture supporting both traditional and modern workloads
  • Security concerns around API-driven open banking initiatives
  • Microservices transformation requirements for digital banking platforms
  • High infrastructure costs due to inefficient legacy systems
"The banking sector requires infrastructure that balances innovation with reliability and security," explains Dr. Rao. "Our current mainframe-centric architecture cannot support the speed of innovation required for digital banking while meeting our stringent uptime and security requirements."
To tackle these issues, OzBank has decided to embark on a comprehensive infrastructure modernization initiative as the cornerstone of its digital transformation strategy.

Implementation Challenges

As the implementation consultant engaged to support this strategic initiative, you must address the following questions that incorporate both technical and organizational considerations.

Case Study Questions

  1. Hybrid Cloud Architecture Design
      2. OzBank needs to maintain mainframe systems for core banking while modernizing with cloud-native services. How would you design a hybrid cloud architecture that bridges legacy and modern systems? Include specific patterns for workload placement, data synchronization, and system integration.
  1. Microservices Transformation Strategy
      2. How would you approach transforming OzBank's monolithic applications into microservices architecture? Detail your strategy for service decomposition, API design, service mesh implementation, and database per service patterns. Include considerations for transaction management across distributed services.
  1. Zero-Trust Security Architecture
      2. Banking regulations require stringent security controls. How would you implement a zero-trust security architecture across OzBank's infrastructure? Address specific concerns around identity and access management, network microsegmentation, encryption in transit and at rest, and security monitoring.
  1. High Availability and Disaster Recovery
      2. With 99.99% uptime requirements, how would you design infrastructure architecture that ensures business continuity? Detail your approach to active-active deployments, automated failover mechanisms, and geo-redundant infrastructure. Include specific RTO and RPO strategies for different system tiers.
  1. Data Architecture and Integration
      2. OzBank stores customer data across mainframes, relational databases, and cloud data lakes. What approach would you recommend for designing a modern data architecture that supports real-time analytics, regulatory reporting, and AI/ML initiatives? Include data integration patterns and master data management strategies.
  1. API Gateway and Management
      2. Open banking initiatives require secure, scalable API infrastructure. How would you design an API gateway architecture that supports external partner integrations while maintaining security and performance? Include rate limiting, authentication, monitoring, and versioning strategies.
  1. Multi-Region Compliance Architecture
      2. OzBank operates across multiple regulatory jurisdictions. How would you design infrastructure architecture that ensures data residency compliance, supports regional privacy regulations (like GDPR, Australian Privacy Act), and enables consistent operations across regions?
  1. Infrastructure as Code and DevOps Transformation
      2. Dr. Rao wants to accelerate deployment velocity while maintaining quality. How would you implement Infrastructure as Code practices and design CI/CD pipelines for banking applications? Include specific considerations for regulatory controls, approval workflows, and audit trails.
  1. Observability and AIOps Strategy
      2. Design a comprehensive observability framework for OzBank's complex infrastructure. Include distributed tracing, log aggregation, metrics collection, and AIOps capabilities for predictive incident management. Address specific banking requirements for transaction monitoring and performance analysis.
  1. Cost Optimization and FinOps
      2. Banking infrastructure costs are significant. How would you design a FinOps framework that optimizes cloud spending while maintaining performance and compliance? Include cost allocation strategies, reserved capacity planning, and continuous optimization practices.

Implementation Context

When developing your responses, consider these additional factors:
  • OzBank faces fierce competition from fintech startups with modern infrastructure
  • The bank must comply with both Australian banking regulations and data protection laws in India
  • Recent digital transformation initiatives require rapid scaling capabilities
  • The board has approved substantial investment but expects demonstrable ROI within 18 months
  • Legacy mainframe systems contain decades of business logic that cannot be immediately replaced
Your implementation approach should balance technical excellence with organizational change requirements, ensuring that the infrastructure architecture delivers both immediate improvements and sustainable long-term value in addressing the critical technology challenges facing OzBank Financial Group.

Evaluation Criteria

Students will be evaluated on:
  • Understanding of enterprise infrastructure architecture principles
  • Ability to align technical implementation with business objectives
  • Practical approaches to hybrid cloud and legacy system modernization
  • Security architecture design for regulated industries
  • Appreciation of banking industry context and regulatory requirements
  • Integration of modern practices like microservices, DevOps, and observability
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