At a Glance

●  Cuts time-to-market for new products and reduces costs of servicing client transactions

● Product development process reduced from weeks to days

● Cloud adoption cuts data center footprint and costs and simplifies infrastructure management

Canadian Western Bank (CWB) specializes in helping small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to achieve sustainable growth. Having started with a single banking centre in Edmonton in 1984, CWB now operates across Canada, providing business and personal banking, specialized financing, wealth management and trust services. With more than 2,600 employees, CWB’s total assets reached 38.9 billion Canadian dollars as at April 2022.

Jeff Wright, Group Head, Client Solutions and Specialty Businesses at CWB, explains: “We aim to use our experience working with business owners to deliver a superior service to that of other large mainstream banks. Rather than standard business banking, we offer something more creative and proactive that addresses the real needs of clients—whether through tailored cash management, financing, or advisory services.”

Staying ahead of the curve

To continue to excel in the market, CWB must tackle multiple challenges. For example, the Canadian government plans to introduce open banking legislation, which will make agility and time-to-market for new products vitally important for financial services providers. Meanwhile, clients increasingly expect a seamless digital banking experience that matches the simplicity and user-friendliness offered by leading online retailers.

Jeff Wright continues: “Things are moving so quicky in the market, and we need to do all we can to stay ahead of the curve. For example, for open banking we are already looking into how regulations and data-sharing models could work in Canada. Across all our operations, we need to move faster than ever to improve our client services and continue to grow.”

However, CWB recognized that its previous banking technologies were potentially restricting growth. Reliance on older platforms slowed down product delivery and legacy technology proved difficult to manage and maintain. To shorten development cycles and facilitate innovation, CWB planned to modernize its technology stack.

“We view innovation as an evolving concept. Innovation means forging partnerships with vendors and collaborating with experts to develop new capabilities. With respect to our digital services, we see innovation as a differentiator that can help to excite clients and win new business.”

Jeff Wright, Group Head, Client Solutions and Specialty Businesses at CWB

Achieving end-to-end digital transformation

As part of the modernization, CWB decided to refresh its technology strategy. Rather than piecing together core solutions from multiple vendors, the bank looked for a single platform with comprehensive functionality. Furthermore, CWB aimed to eliminate the complexity of managing upgrades and development work by working with a partner that could deliver continuous enhancements.

To reach its targets, CWB decided to work with Temenos. Initially, the bank implemented Temenos Core Banking, before adding Data Lake, Explainable AI (XAI), and Payments capabilities. In the latest collaboration, CWB deployed Temenos Digital Banking Platform running on the Temenos Banking Cloud.

We were impressed with the focus on research and development at Temenos, which ensures we have access to leading-edge capabilities and avoid doing our own development work and upgrades. Using pre-built solutions from Temenos would also simplify deployment and shorten time-to-value.”

Jeff Wright, Group Head, Client Solutions and Specialty Businesses at CWB

Jeff Wright adds: “Temenos has an impressive global client base where we can learn from and share experiences. When we assessed other financial software providers, they tended to work with smaller banks, which left us unsure if they would really understand our goals. With Temenos, we felt confident their roadmap would provide great solutions aligned with our objectives.”

The decision to use the Temenos Banking Cloud was driven by the need for resilience and cost-efficiency, as Jeff Wright confirms: “Using the Temenos Banking Cloud gives us high levels of stability, allows us to reduce our data center footprint and costs, and minimizes infrastructure management workloads.”

Harnessing intuitive product development tools

With Temenos, CWB has transformed its banking infrastructure from front to back. Using Temenos Core Banking, the bank consolidated its core environment, adding enhanced transaction processing and product development functionality. Product development process has been reduced from weeks to days with the Temenos core banking system. Similarly, the combination of Data Lake and XAI capabilities enables CWB to draw data from multiple sources and generate fast, accurate reports.

Jeff Wright continues: “The data analytics capabilities are very useful, allowing us to incorporate data not only from Temenos Core Banking but all our other systems into our data warehouse. And with XAI capabilities, we can harness artificial intelligence to inform smarter decisions.”

Revamping its digital banking services, Jeff Wright explains: “With Temenos Digital Banking Platform, we have the tools to design and optimize user-friendly omnichannel experiences for our personal and small business clients. Using the solution has proved easy and intuitive for our teams.”

Improving client services and satisfaction

The partnership with Temenos has proved a major success, bringing greater agility to CWB. For example, adopting the streamlined, functionality-rich core platform from Temenos has accelerated product development and shortened time-to-market for new services. Furthermore, CWB has reduced the costs of development cycles and processing client transactions.

“The high performance and stability of Temenos Core Banking are vital for delivering high-quality services. Even when we have made multiple changes or updates, our core platform has been exceptionally robust, ensuring clients can always access their accounts. With Temenos, we are delivering a great client experience that helps to build satisfaction and long-term loyalty.”

Jeff Wright, Group Head, Client Solutions and Specialty Businesses at CWB

CWB is confident that the launch of its new digital banking services will further improve its Net Promoter Score (NPS), as Jeff Wright confirms: “We expect our enhanced digital services will have a huge impact and open up a new growth path. We already have an industry-leading NPS in Canada, and we firmly believe that working with Temenos Digital Banking Platform will help us take this to the next level and attract more clients.”

From an IT perspective, the collaboration with Temenos has also yielded valuable benefits. Managing the integrated banking infrastructure from Temenos is much easier than administering CWB’s previous banking solutions, saving valuable time for the information services team.

Forging long-term partnership

Moving forward, CWB plans to maintain close links with Temenos product teams to stay current with the latest capabilities. The bank takes pride in serving as an ambassador for Temenos, sharing their experiences with others considering Temenos as a partner.

Jeff Wright concludes: “Temenos represents an important partner to CWB, and we would recommend Temenos to other banks. The solutions are first-class. If you want a solution that can enable better client service, Temenos is your answer.”

“One final thing we love about Temenos is its global presence. At Temenos events, we can talk to banks from across the world about their experience with initiatives like open banking. With Temenos, we are part of a wider community, where we can gain valuable insights to help us tackle the new wave of challenges hitting the Canadian market.”

Jeff Wright, Group Head, Client Solutions and Specialty Businesses at CWB