National Australia Bank: NABX Micro-frontend Framework
Winner of the Celent Model Bank 2021 Award for Architecting for Innovation
Abstract
NABX allows NAB to deliver new features faster for its customers by extending concepts of back-end microservices to its digital front end. NAB had already successfully rolled out microservice delivery for many back-office platforms, developing them into a growing and evolving ecosystem. That ecosystem now extends to its front-end platform, where micro-frontends allow for independent self-contained teams to build, design, and deploy discrete pieces of functionality without complex interdependency. This allows teams to deliver new features faster or upgrade individual pieces of the customer experience.
NABX was formed in 2018 to provide tools, guidance, and coordination to make the rollout to IT teams successful at scale. The first mini-app (i.e., micro-frontend service) was deployed in February of 2019, and channel teams within the bank have since delivered more than 100 mini-apps. The project has been a huge success for front-end architecture, reducing the effort and cost to roll out new features while creating the scaffolding for a banking platform.