Priya PatelThe Norinchukin Bank has migrated JA Bank’s large-scale core system to Amazon Web Services (AWS) as part of its effort to reduce costs and improve scalability. By migrating the database to Amazon Aurora, the bank expects to reduce the total cost of ownership by more than JPY 10 billion over 13 years. The migration process took approximately four and a half years and involved the use of AWS Professional Services to overcome challenges and ensure security. By moving to AWS, the bank expects to reduce license costs for the database by around 30% compared to the previous model, and to benefit from the flexibility and scalability offered by cloud technology.
The Norinchukin Bank supports the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industries and operates businesses including financial services. It manages funds entrusted by nearly 600 nationwide JA and Shinnoren organizations and returns approximately JPY 500 billion in profits each year. JA Bank is a financial group consisting of JA, Shinnoren, and Norinchukin Bank, with over JPY 100 trillion in savings, more than 6,000 branches, and over 10,000 ATMs.
The migration project involved the JA Bank’s core system, named the “JASTEM System,” which was built in 2002 by integrating systems from various prefectures. The system consists of an accounting system and an information system that accumulates transaction and customer data. The Norinchukin Bank decided to migrate the JASTEM information system to the cloud to achieve cost reduction and improved scalability and flexibility.
The bank chose AWS as its cloud provider after evaluating various major cloud services. The decision was based on cost competitiveness, track record in the cloud market, and the security requirements of financial institutions. The bank utilized AWS Professional Services throughout the migration process to gain expertise and ensure security.
One of the key factors in cost reduction was the decision to switch to Amazon Aurora for the database. Amazon Aurora does not require license fees and offers high availability and compatibility with PostgreSQL. By migrating to AWS, the Norinchukin Bank expects to reduce license costs for the JASTEM information database by around 30% compared to the previous model.
The migration process involved defining requirements, building infrastructure, and migrating the database. The bank faced challenges related to security risks, but by utilizing AWS Professional Services, it was able to implement security measures based on industry standards and best practices recommended by AWS. The integration testing process involved using actual data and conducting thorough migration tests and rehearsals to estimate the migration time.
The successful migration to AWS is expected to lead to significant cultural changes in the bank’s IT department. The department has gained AWS know-how and is now more familiar with the cloud. The bank plans to actively promote data utilization and has already built a new infrastructure on AWS to relay and store data between systems. The bank aims to become more data-driven and is deepening its knowledge through regular study sessions and collaboration with AWS.
