ADCB Egypt

At a Glance

• First bank in Egypt to go live with native ISO 20022 MX messaging

• Enabled fully native SWIFT payments

• Significant STP gains and automation by replacing previous Funds Transfer module

• Fully integrated with Temenos Core

Established in 2020, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Egypt (ADCB Egypt) is a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Group, one of the leading banking institutions in the UAE. The bank offers retail, corporate, SME, and digital banking services through a nationwide network and advanced digital platforms and has achieved strong financial growth while earning industry recognition for digital innovation, customer service, and financial inclusion.

Today, the bank uses Temenos Core across its Retail, Corporate, SME, and institutional client segments. That foundation is now being strengthened with payments innovation.

In 2025, ADCB Egypt became the first bank in Egypt to go live with Temenos Payments for SWIFT payments, and fully compliant with ISO 20022 / SWIFT MX messaging standards.

What makes this deployment stand out is its native integration. ADCB implemented the new messaging standard directly within its system. By removing middleware and workarounds, the bank can now work directly with structured, source-level data.

“This approach gives us full data integrity and no limitations,” Ihab Elswerkey CEO & Managing Director at ADCB Egypt explained. “It’s more than compliance; it’s the smart way to scale, in line with our 5-year growth strategy.

By going native from day one, the bank avoids inefficiencies and translation risks, gaining agility as regulations evolve. It’s a bold move that sets the bank apart from competitors still working through interim solutions.

The implementation, led by ITSS with support from Temenos and ADCB’s internal PMO, followed a structured rollout. ADCB Egypt prioritized cross-border payments. The setup included five full environments spanning development, UAT, pre-production (x2), and production.

“ITSS played a critical role,” Ihab said. “They brought deep product knowledge and helped us set up a robust environment across dev, UAT, and production. Their collaboration with our team was excellent.”

ITSS also reflected on the strength of the partnership. “ADCB Egypt had a clear vision for compliance and scalability,” said Patrick Jaccoud, CEO, ITSS. “Our role was to bring deep expertise in Temenos Payments and ensure that the implementation was seamless, modular, and future proof. This project proves what’s possible when the client, partner, and vendor work as one team.”

The shift from Temenos’ previous module to Temenos Payments Hub delivered immediate benefits. ADCB Egypt achieved stronger straight-through processing, significantly reduced manual intervention, and now responds to regulatory changes faster and more cleanly. Payment flows are now centrally orchestrated, improving both visibility and control.

ADCB Egypt ran a formal evaluation process, comparing Temenos Payments with other global vendors. TPH stood out for its native ISO 20022 support, seamless compatibility with the bank’s existing Temenos Core platform, and a scalable architecture that required minimal customization. ADCB also took the opportunity to deploy Temenos Treasury Front Office (TFO), which it completed in June 2024.

ADCB Egypt required a platform that didn’t need heavy customization. Temenos Payments absorbed the business needs with minimal rework, presenting a major advantage.

With Phase 1 now live, ADCB Egypt is planning its next move: extending Temenos Payments to handle other payment schemes (ACH, RTGS, and instant payments), all under a single orchestration layer. The bank is also expanding its use of analytics, AI, and real-time insights – critical tools in its strategy to attract a new generation of digital-first customers with faster, smarter, and more responsive banking experiences.

For ADCB Egypt, this is about building a platform that grows with the bank, a strategic move to continuously modernize its infrastructure and ensure its readiness for the future.