# How a Barclays boss fixed banking's tech mess > Antony Jenkins spent 30 years inside legacy banking. Now his start-up 10x Banking is helping other banks escape the spaghetti systems trap. - Title: How a Barclays boss fixed banking's tech mess · Fortune - Summary: Antony Jenkins spent 30 years inside legacy banking. Now his start-up 10x Banking is helping other banks escape the spaghetti systems trap. Antony Jenkins… - Keywords: antony jenkins, 10x banking, barclays, legacy technology, banking innovation, fintech, boss, fixed, banking's, tech, mess, Fortune - Source: Fortune — https://fortune.com/2026/09/24/antony-jenkins-worlds-biggest-bank-how-to-solve-those-legacy-tech-nightmares-start-up-barclays - Author: Kamal Ahmed - Read time: 2 min - Topics: antony jenkins, 10x banking, barclays, legacy technology, banking innovation, fintech ## The problem Jenkins saw inside Barclays Antony Jenkins became CEO of Barclays in 2012 and left in 2015. During his time there, he discovered that large banks suffer from spaghetti systems: layers of computer refits and upgrades built haphazardly over decades, some dating back to the nineteen sixties. > Much of it had been created in the 70s and 80s. Some of it even went back to the 60s. ## Why legacy systems slow banks down Banks responded to the internet and mobile by building expensive, slow, and costly solutions on top of old systems. Jenkins compared it to a cathedral: generations of people adding gargoyles and spires, each layer making the whole structure more complex and harder to change. > It's a bit like a cathedral. When you look at a cathedral, it's all beautifully built. But actually, it's generations of people who have added a gargoyle here or a spire there. ## The speed problem for new products In a big bank, delivering a new product like a mortgage variant or credit card takes nine months to a year to eighteen months. Jenkins wanted to build new products in minutes and create beautiful user experiences without layers of legacy technology in between. > In a big bank, if you want to deliver a new product, a new variant mortgage or a credit card, it can take you nine months to a year to 18 months to build and deliver that. ## Jenkins launches 10x Banking Jenkins launched 10x Banking a decade ago as a banking platform providing new ways to organize core services and customer interfaces that legacy systems cannot handle. The company raised fifty million pounds in twenty twenty-four, valuing it at over five hundred million pounds, or six hundred sixty-three million dollars. ## How 10x Banking works differently Most bank systems run a hybrid of batch and semi-real time processing. 10x Banking runs in real time, letting clients see what is happening at any point and apply AI agents to create better customer outcomes. This real-time capability is what legacy systems find almost impossible to deliver. > Today, most bank systems still run a hybrid of batch and semi-real time. Our platform runs in real time. ## Clients already using the platform 10x Banking counts Chase U.K., Old Mutual and Westpac among its clients. These major financial institutions are using the platform to escape the constraints of their own legacy systems and deliver services faster and more efficiently. ## The philosophy behind the name Jenkins named the company 10x Banking because he wanted to make things ten times better, not just a little better. He believes technology is only worth doing if it makes things significantly better for customers, a principle he started with a blank piece of paper on his dining room table. > Technology allows you to do lots of things, but it's only really worth doing if you are going to make things a lot better. ## Key takeaway Antony Jenkins, who led Barclays from 2012 to 2015, launched 10x Banking to solve the legacy technology problem that slows down large banks and makes innovation expensive.