Fortune 50 banks are transitioning from traditional relational databases like Oracle and PostgreSQL to CockroachDB to better meet the demands of their modern, global user base and to navigate a shifting regulatory environment. This shift is largely driven by the need to mitigate risks associated with both planned and unplanned downtime. CockroachDB, a distributed SQL database, offers superior fault tolerance and performance, particularly important for mission-critical workloads such as payment processing and identity and access management (IAM). The database's ability to seamlessly handle multi-region deployments and its operational simplicity reduce complexity and associated risks, allowing banks to innovate and grow more efficiently. By adopting CockroachDB, banks benefit from enhanced risk management, reduced operational complexity, and increased profitability through improved performance and minimized downtime, thereby maintaining competitiveness in the financial sector.