Your champion said yes. The rest of the bank hasn’t.

Selling software to a bank or credit union takes 2–12 months for an add-on and 9–24 months for a digital banking platform, by Panelhop’s research estimates. A core replacement can take up to 36 months by the same estimates. Due diligence alone took 9 months or longer for 18% of respondents to Bank Director’s 2026 Technology Survey of US banks. Deals that run through German group IT providers can take longer still, because the group must release the product first.

A bank or credit union’s buying panel for software involves an estimated 5–12 people. The panel includes an executive sponsor, a business owner, the CIO, the information security officer, vendor management, compliance and often the board. For 65% of respondents to Bank Director’s 2026 Technology Survey of US banks, a management team or steering committee gives final approval. In the same survey, 30% said their board is directly involved in major technology decisions.

Most products that touch account data need a live core integration before they sell to community banks. In a Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City study, over 70% of US banks surveyed in 2022 ran on 3 core providers. Without a live integration on the bank’s own core configuration, deals stall at evaluation or lose to the core provider’s own module. Tier your target list by core so reps work accounts you can serve.

Banks rarely publish core contract dates, so ask for the core and digital banking renewal dates in the first meeting and record them on the account. Some community banks start looking 18–24 months before a core contract expires. Most core contracts need non-renewal notice at least 180 days ahead. Where the date stays private, estimate it from the institution’s last core conversion or renewal announcement plus a typical term, and watch merger filings and consultant RFPs.

Bank deals slip because due diligence and board approval run on the bank’s calendar while the forecast assumes the rep’s date. Vendor management and security often start their review only after the business line says yes. Steering committees and boards meet on fixed dates. A business case that misses the board pack waits for the next meeting.

Software vendors usually reach German Sparkassen and cooperative banks through the group IT provider that runs each group’s platform, with the regional associations as gatekeepers. Core-adjacent software must be integrated and released on the group platform before a local bank can buy it, so the decisive account is the group. Independent private and specialist banks in Germany can still decide on their own. When Sparkassen or cooperative banks merge, core IT stays with the group, and the merged bank is likely to re-plan peripheral services ahead of the technical merger.

The strongest buying signals at a bank or credit union are dated events: a core contract nearing expiry, a merger, an enforcement order, a new CIO or CISO and the annual budget season. Some community banks start looking 18–24 months before a core contract expires, and the contract date usually comes from discovery. Mergers, enforcement orders and leadership changes show up in FDIC and NCUA data, regulators’ releases and trade press. A vendor can map each of them to named accounts.

Software vendors get meetings with bank and credit union executives by arriving with a dated reason. Good reasons include a contract window, a merger, an enforcement order or a new leader. Peers on the same core, user groups, credit union leagues, state banking associations and selection consultants carry more weight than cold email. Engage IT, information security and vendor management early, as well as the business owner who asked for a demo.