MMG Bank

Building a market-leading position in Panama’s private banking sector

Panama City, Panama

At a Glance

● $4.5bn in client assets managed using the platform

● 4000 High-net-worth clients acquired since 1996

● Increases market share and build its position as a leading private bank in Panama

● Scaling seamlessly as its client base and transaction volumes grow with Temenos

Panama ranks alongside London, Hong Kong, Geneva, and Singapore as a global leader in wealth management and private banking. A stable economy, a business-friendly regulatory landscape, and a high concentration of expertise in asset management have made the Central American nation an attractive prospect for high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and major corporations.

For banks too, Panama is a land of opportunity. Increasingly, clients come from far beyond the traditional heartlands of Europe and the Americas, with many Asian mass affluents and HNWIs now turning to Panamanian banks for investment and portfolio management services.

In this expanding market, competition can be fierce, and banks like MMG Bank face the challenge of capturing and defending their market share. Founded in 1996 by partners at one of Panama’s leading legal and financial service providers, the bank is always looking for innovative ways to grow its customer base and assets under management (AUM).

Providing market-leading services

To help win new clients, MMG Bank aimed to launch services that would empower HNWIs and businesses to protect their assets and reach their financial goals. To support a sophisticated portfolio of new private banking products, the bank looked for a flexible, scalable core banking platform that could manage high transaction volumes.

Maria Elena Hernán, Technology Vice President at MMG Bank, explains: “As a business, we want to build a reputation as a market leader for private and investment banking, with the largest portfolio of AUM among Panamanian banks. To grow our market share, we knew launching innovative products wasn’t enough—we also had to bring them to market before our competitors.”

Deploying best-in-class technology

MMG Bank chose Temenos core banking as the foundation for its new offering. Since the initial implementation, the bank has continued to add new modules to the Temenos platform, increasing the value it delivers for its clients.

During the selection process, we looked for a core banking solution that would scale seamlessly as we added more clients, and a technology partner that could bring an expert voice to the table and offer long-term support. When we found Temenos, it didn’t take long to realise they offered the ideal combination of deep industry knowledge and experience, and best-of-breed technology.”

Maria Elena Hernán,Technology Vice President at MMG Bank

Developing a rich product portfolio

With the Temenos solution, MMG Bank has continued to expand its product portfolio, helping it to deliver high-quality private banking and asset management services. In recent years, the bank has expanded its investment and wealth management division, launching new offerings such as discretionary portfolio management, fixed-income funds, and advisory services.

“The Temenos solution makes it very easy for us to innovate and bring next-generation services to market quickly,” adds Maria Elena Hernán. “Whenever we want to add new functionality or integrate a third-party product with the core platform, it is very simple to complete the process. In particular, the security, fund transfer, and accounting capabilities of Temenos core banking are very impressive, and ensure we provide an exceptional level of protection for our clients and can centralize many key business processes.”

Supporting a growing client base

Since the implementation, the Temenos platform has also helped MMG Bank scale its operations and manage the assets of an increasing number of HNWIs and businesses. Having started with just 20 business users, there are now 180 bank employees working with Temenos Solutions every day. MMG Bank has also grown its client base dramatically, from a handful of clients in 1996 to more than 4,000 today.

The robustness and reliability of the Temenos platform is exceptional. Even as we have increased our client base and transaction volumes, Temenos core banking has never let us down. And when we do have queries about new functionalities or upgrades, there is an excellent local support team from Temenos available in Panama—something not all vendors can match.”

Maria Elena Hernán,Technology Vice President at MMG Bank

Managing multi-billion-dollar assets

Supported by Temenos, MMG Bank today enjoys status as one of the main players in the Panamanian private banking arena. In 2019, the bank managed $4.5 billion in assets, while in 2018 it achieved a net profit of $13.3 million. Working hand-in-hand with Temenos, MMG Bank is confident of further success in the future.

We have worked with Temenos since the very start, and they have been integral to our growth into a leading financial service provider in Panama. The Temenos platform provides the capabilities we need to continue to prosper and develop even more tailored client products and services. All banks looking to innovate should seriously consider partnering with Temenos.”

Maria Elena Hernán,Technology Vice President at MMG Bank

Region

Latin America

Solutions

Core Banking
Digital Front Office

Sector

Corporate & Commercial Banking
Wealth Management

MMG Bank

Building a market-leading position in Panama’s private banking sector

Panama City, Panama

At a Glance

● Enables training of new users in less than one-half day

● Increase in the number of effective calls per day and members reached

● Delinquency reduction while improving expense efficiency in asset recovery

LBS Financial Credit Union, headquartered in Long Beach, California, since 1935, with $1.3 billion in assets and 124,000 members, was seeking to improve its existing collection management system. Searching for a real-time, user-friendly system with flexible queuing features and robust reporting capabilities, they explored a number of collection management systems before choosing Temenos digital banking Collection. Al Parent, Vice President of Collections, cited that the existing Temenos digital banking interface with their core provider made a specifically positive impact during the decision-making process.

Process Improvements

Since the implementation of the Collection module, LBS has experienced an increase in the number of effective calls per day, with a corresponding increase in the number of members reached. Temenos digital banking has contributed not only to a delinquency reduction but also to improved expense efficiency in their asset recovery effort by enabling a reduction in staff scheduling and the elimination of overtime. The ease of queue set-up and the ability to download reports to Microsoft Excel for “slicing and dicing” are features that enable management to focus the efforts of their staff where it is most beneficial.

The ease of use has made the collection staff very comfortable with the software and enables training of new users in less than one-half day. “Temenos digital banking is a more intuitive system, which has enabled us to become more efficient,” offered Parent. “Additionally, we have utilized the capabilities of the software to assist in our marketing efforts.”

LBS Financial was looking for a system that would enable us to reduce delinquency without increasing staffing. Temenos digital banking has really put us light years ahead of where we were.”

Al Parent, Vice President Collections at LBS Financial Credit Union

Quality Results

The choice of Temenos digital banking has provided significant improvement in both productivity and efficiency. LBS looks forward to continued success and would definitely recommend Temenos digital banking to others looking to improve their asset recovery process. “Based upon our experience to date and the fact that we have become such fans of Temenos digital banking, we look forward to future product offerings from Temenos,” Parent comments.

Region

North America

Solutions

Collections
Digital Front Office

Sector

Credit Unions & Community Banking

MMG Bank

Building a market-leading position in Panama’s private banking sector

Panama City, Panama

At a Glance

● 100% increase in automation

● 60% of all loan decisions now automated

● 87.5% faster in audit and fund loans

● 135% Consumer lending portfolio increase

● 27% Membership base increase

● 97% customer satisfaction rating

FORUM Credit Union aims to help its members achieve their financial dreams by offering innovative products and high-quality customer service. Headquartered in Fishers, Indiana, it was initially formed to serve the employees of the Indiana Bell Telephone Company. Today, the credit union manages total assets worth $1.9 billion and provides personal and savings accounts, home and auto loans, credit and debit cards, financial advisory, and business banking services to 171,773 members.

Embracing advanced technologies has long been a central part of FORUM’s growth strategy. The credit union was among the first in the USA to offer checks as a payment method in the 1980s and was also an early adopter of fingerprint and facial recognition authentication systems for its mobile app.

Meeting increased demand

FORUM’s membership had expanded by 52% in the ten years preceding its adoption of Temenos, with particular growth in requests for auto loans. At the same time, members increasingly expected a slick, seamless digital experience when they interact with their financial service provider. However, FORUM struggled to process rising application volumes quickly with its previous loan origination system, increasing the risk of members switching to a competitor.

To support the growth of our auto loans channel, we looked for a more flexible system. We wanted a system that provided flexible decisioning rules to support automated decisioning as well as a system that could grow along with our growing lending business.”

Chris Ferguson, Vice President, Consumer Lending at FORUM Credit Union

Specifically, FORUM wanted a platform that would accelerate and automate as many steps in the loan origination process as possible and enable the consumer lending team to set their own procedures for whether an application should be approved. It was also essential to connect the new solution to the systems of FORUM’s auto dealer partners, which provide indirect loans on its behalf.

Implementing a customizable, integrated solution

To modernize its auto loans business, FORUM decided to implement Temenos Loan Origination (2015), which provides intelligent decisioning functionality to manage the application, risk calculation, and loan disbursement processes. The Temenos solution enables the credit union to create unique approval rules and decisioning models for direct and indirect auto loans, based on its own lending and risk guidelines.

Of all the options that we considered, Temenos stood out for the potential to customize our decision rules. The scalability and automation features help us to manage more and more lending applications, and the rich API capabilities enable us to integrate seamlessly with third-party applications.”

Chris Ferguson, Vice President, Consumer Lending at FORUM Credit Union

Another major plus for FORUM was the Debt Protection panel within the Temenos platform. The credit union uses the feature to enhance its auto loan service by providing an accompanying quote for insurance. Through the integrated Trustage Protection Advisor Connector, FORUM can generate quotes for Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP) and Mechanical Repair Coverage (MRC) services from Trustage Financial Group.

“The solution was very easy to configure” explains Chris. “And whenever we experienced challenges during the deployment, we worked closely with Temenos to keep the project moving forward. Temenos understands that every financial institution is unique and possesses distinctive goals. Having spent time listening to our requirements, the Temenos team set us on the path towards realizing our objectives.”

Accelerating approvals

By deploying Temenos, FORUM increased the levels of automation in its loan origination process by 100%.

The impact has been profound, says Chris.

Automated decisioning now allows us to make immediate lending decisions for the majority of our applications. Combined with the third-party connectors and ability to complete digital contracting through our indirect lending partners, we can now fully audit and fund approved loans for applicants within hours. Previously, this process could take three to four days, sometimes longer; so we’re moving 87.5% faster, plus we are delivering a better experience all-round.”

Chris Ferguson, Vice President, Consumer Lending at FORUM Credit Union

Extending value

The story of FORUM CU’s partnership with Temenos is one of continual improvement. During the almost-decade long partnership, FORUM CU has extended the technology to its consumer account origination business and small business account origination businesses.

Today, the powerful engine manages over 60% of all lending decisions, helping to minimize the risk of human error, protecting against fraud, and freeing up time for operational teams to focus on value-add tasks, such as exception handling.

Meanwhile, automations have significantly reduced the time it takes to develop new products. This has emboldened the credit union with a newfound agility. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the credit union launched an emergency loan scheme within just a few hours—a process that would have taken several weeks with the old system. Today, that can be done in just 10 minutes.

More time to be productive

Chris says that a major impact of automation is not simply measured in time savings, but what colleagues can do with that time. “They don’t feel overwhelmed by the number of applications coming through. So they can spend more time on applications that need more attention, and make more quality decisions.”

Automations have also made it easier for FORUM to cross-sell and up-sell other savings and credit services to loan applicants, driving revenues and strengthening brand loyalty. The financials speak for themselves. In the nine years since deploying the Temenos platform (Loan Origination in 2015, and then Account Origination in July 2018) the credit union increased its loan portfolio by 135% (from $382m to more than $900m) and its membership base by 27%. Additionally, FORUM’s consumer lending division saw consumer loan originations double between between 2021-22. FORUM also receives around 97% positive ratings in user satisfaction polls—significantly higher than its competitors.

In addition, Temenos is helping FORUM to address constantly evolving financial regulations. The credit union configured the Temenos system to collect relevant data points, which it uses to create reports that demonstrate compliance with industry guidelines.

More to come…

Next up is an implementation of Digital Onboarding (previously Journey Manager) to support a redesign of their digital experience and an upgrade to their fraud management capabilities. “Over the last 10 years, there’s been continued evolution and enhancement, with new features and functions that we continue to build out. We have a lot of plans for the future and Temenos will definitely be coming along for the ride.”

Today, the mood at FORUM is one of confidence

One of the best things about working with Temenos is their investment in product development, which ensures we have access to the most innovative new functionality. Looking ahead, we see the potential for many collaborations to further enhance our services. With Temenos supporting us, we are confident that we will continue to help our members achieve their financial dreams.”

Chris Ferguson, Vice President, Consumer Lending at FORUM Credit Union

Region

North America

Solutions

Collections
Digital Front Office

Sector

Credit Unions & Community Banking

MMG Bank

Building a market-leading position in Panama’s private banking sector

Panama City, Panama

Canandaigua National Bank and Trust Company, headquartered in Canandaigua, New York needed to switch to an automated collection software that would create more efficiency but still be user-friendly. With $2.09 billion in assets and more than 208,000 account holders, they were looking for a system that had an easy learning curve and already contained many components, such as reports, views, and more.

Process Improvements

Canandaigua National Bank and Trust Company chose Temenos digital banking Collection to drive success at their 27 branches and bring their motto “We live, work, and play here” to life while contributing to their small community feel. The collection module was able to provide Canandaigua National Bank and Trust with improved efficiency and ease of learning while remaining very user-friendly. It was able to fit Canandaigua’s needs with built-in components such as reports, views, dashboards, and more, all of which they required in their search for a new system.

Endless reports can be created for upper management, and different information can be pulled together that would otherwise take time to create manually.”

Ann Lyon, Resource Recovery Supervisor at Canandaigua National Bank and Trust

Quality Results

By implementing Temenos digital banking, Canandaigua National Bank and Trust noticed an increase in efficiency and were able to utilize better tracking mechanisms. With this, they also noticed improved management capabilities due to the reports that were now available to them. Canandaigua is now able to penetrate a larger number of customers per day because of their switch to Temenos.

Ann Lyon recommends that other financial institutions switch to Temenos if they plan to grow. By implementing an automated system, they are setting themselves up for success by preparing for future growth. She has seen that the system does many previously manual processes automatically, which in turn has increased efficiency. There are also features within the Collection module, such as notes, that can be entered into the workflow process so that if you hire new employees, the system will virtually walk them through what they need to do.

Region

North America

Solutions

Collections
Digital Front Office

Sector

Retail Banking

MMG Bank

Building a market-leading position in Panama’s private banking sector

Panama City, Panama

At a Glance

● Improve data accuracy by 25% and lift staff productivity by eliminating manual workflows

● Increases customer volume by more than 11%, from 15,000 to 17,000

● 25% growth in daily transaction volumes

Seychelles Credit Union (SCU) stands apart as the only member-owned savings and credit cooperative that operates in Seychelles. While local commercial banks focus on developing an extensive range of retail and corporate services, SCU prioritizes people above profits, aiming to promote financial literacy and prosperity among citizens with highly competitive loans and savings products.

Recent years have seen big changes in the local market: new legal and regulatory frameworks and the emergence of a younger generation eager to consume banking services via digital channels have created new pressures and opportunities for banks in Seychelles. Keen to stay ahead of the curve, SCU considered how it could continue to deliver a high-quality experience that not only meets but exceeds the expectations of its members.

The introduction of new regulations by the Central Bank of Seychelles spurred SCU into action. To comply with the new rules, the credit union would require a comprehensive refresh of its core banking systems. But SCU also spotted the chance to turn this do-or-die moment to its advantage and aimed to seize the opportunity to transform many of its legacy processes. To execute the plan, it looked for a strategic partner.

Looming Deadlines

In 2016, the Central Bank of Seychelles issued a directive that required all banks and credit unions to integrate with the new national payments platform, the Seychelles Electronic Funds Transfer (SEFT) system. SCU quickly realized that it would be very difficult to integrate its existing core banking solutions with the platform supporting the new electronic funds transfer system.

A spokesperson at the bank, explains: “This was a huge moment for us. We faced an ultimatum from the Central Bank that meant we had to bring our systems into line with SEFT by a specific deadline. We took decisive action and targeted a root-and-branch replacement of our core systems with a modern, agile core platform that would deliver regulatory compliance.”

Embracing a New Digital Era

In addition, SCU wanted to deploy a solution that would accelerate many internal workflows, replacing time-consuming manual work with fully digital operations. The previous core banking system also lacked key functionality, including ATM compatibility, and comprehensive governance structures such as audit trails. With the new platform, SCU looked to implement enhanced access controls and international best practices.

A spokesperson at the bank continues: “We saw this as the perfect moment to bring SCU into the digital age. Although we still have many consumers keen to use cash deposits, the younger generation is looking to manage their money via mobile or online. As we kicked off the search for a new core platform, we wanted to find advanced digital functionality that would solve our operational issues and help us to serve different customer segments.”

Finding Just the Right Fit

Following an extensive intelligence-gathering exercise, SCU selected Temenos Inclusive Banking Suite as its new core platform. The solution provides SCU with access to the Temenos core banking solution in a configuration specifically designed for credit unions and microfinance institutions rather than large-scale commercial banks.

During the research process, SCU consulted with a local bank in Seychelles that utilizes Temenos core banking, as well as the CEOs of several other financial institutions that rely on Temenos core banking tools. The credit union also approached the service provider responsible for hosting SEFT for the Central Bank of Seychelles to check on the level of integration between Temenos and the electronic payments system.

All of the feedback about Temenos that we received was excellent. The service provider confirmed in writing that Temenos core banking was the best fit to integrate with SEFT, while the CEOs assured us that their deployments had been quick and simple. Combined with our own research and assurances from Temenos about the digital functionality they could provide, it was clear we were on the right track.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Implementing in Record Time

In the final stage of the decision process, SCU was concerned that such a large-scale transformation project could not be completed within the deadlines stipulated by the Central Bank. Temenos and a business partner pulled out all the stops to ensure a rapid implementation, and managed to complete the data migration and integration with the national payments system within just 90 days.

A spokesperson at the bank elaborates: “The implementation was a huge success, and we later learned this was the fastest deployment that Temenos has ever achieved for the core banking platform. Even when we requested modifications to some of the modules, Temenos was ready to help. Throughout the process, they were checking in on our progress and making sure everything was going according to our schedule.”

The implementation was a huge success, and we later learned this was the fastest deployment that Temenos has ever achieved for the core banking platform. Even when we requested modifications to some of the modules, Temenos were ready to help. Throughout the process, they were checking in on our progress and making sure everything was going according to our schedule.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Unleashing New Efficiencies

With the Temenos platform in place, SCU achieved its regulatory compliance goals and established more robust governance structures. The solution enables the credit union to implement stricter access controls on who can enter and manipulate data and transaction records. And by replacing manual steps with straight-through-processing and digitalized workflows, SCU accelerated many key operational processes.

For example, SCU automated the production of daily performance reports, which would previously take many hours to create manually using Excel spreadsheets and copying and pasting data between applications. The credit union can now gain deeper insights and track key performance indicators such as daily income statements at a more granular level.

With the Temenos platform, we have daily reports ready much faster, and we can dig down to analyse our performance by region, demographic groups, and individual products. Our teams can take that data and identify clients or customer groups who could be interested in supplementary services, or spot areas where we need to refine our value proposition.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Getting Data Right the First Time

Replacing manual workflows has also helped SCU to significantly improve data accuracy. Previously, when staff had to enter data into the core systems by hand, there was a high risk of error, leading SCU to dedicate extra resources to double-checking transaction records. Now, the credit union’s audit department estimate data accuracy has improved by 25 percent, freeing staff who were formerly tied up with lower-value work.

A spokesperson at the bank adds: “Since implementing the Temenos platform, our IT costs have significantly decreased as a proportion of our incomes. With our previous core banking systems, we were locked into an agreement that forced us to purchase licenses per workstation rather than per user. Temenos offers a much greater degree of flexibility in our licensing agreements, which better suits the way that we work.”

Building on Customer Appeal

Using the Temenos solution, SCU increased the number of transactions it can handle each day by 25 percent, without having to increase staff numbers. The high level of automation and straight-through-processing provided by the platform means SCU can process requests for transfers and withdrawals much faster, ensuring that customers receive a superior experience when managing their money.

The enhanced service that we can now offer has helped us to attract many new customers. In 2017, when we implemented the Temenos solution, we had around 15,000 customers. Today we have grown to serve around 17,000—a rise of more than 11 percent, which we can accommodate easily thanks to the speed and scalability of the Temenos platform.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Reaching New Customer Groups

SCU is continuously looking to optimize its core banking environment and is currently upgrading its R14 of Temenos core banking to the latest R18 iteration. Alongside this, the credit union is exploring the potential of Temenos digital banking to provide online and mobile banking, which could help it sharpen its competitive edge by capturing business from among the millennial customer bracket.

A spokesperson at the bank concludes: “Working with Temenos has been exceptional—in fact, our experience with them stands as one of the best we have had with any of our strategic partners or vendors. Temenos understood our problem, provided a solution, helped us deploy in rapid time, and have gone above and beyond what we normally expect and receive from vendors. We look forward to taking the next steps of our journey with them.”

Region

Middle East & Africa

Solutions

Core Banking
Digital Front Office

Sector

Credit Unions & Community Banking
Retail Banking

MMG Bank

Building a market-leading position in Panama’s private banking sector

Panama City, Panama

RACQ is the world’s first automobile club to launch banking products alongside its core insurance and roadside assistance services. To rival the customer experiences offered by more established competitors, RACQ Bank selected Temenos digital banking solutions. The Temenos platform will enable the bank to develop a fast, simple, and easy-to-navigate digital onboarding and account opening process for its retail products that customers can access using their preferred devices. RACQ Bank will also be able to gain insights into how customers interact with the service and make continuous improvements to ensure a frictionless experience.

Region

Asia Pacific

Solutions

Digital Front Office

Sector

Credit Unions & Community Banking

MMG Bank

Building a market-leading position in Panama’s private banking sector

Panama City, Panama

At a Glance

● Quick client onboarding powered by Temenos Wealth Front Office

● Improve operational cost-efficiency and free more time for commercial activities

● Best private bank in Belgium by Global Finance Magazine in 2018

As economic growth in the eurozone remains sluggish, banks are under pressure to protect their margins. Enabling employees to focus on commercial work can be a powerful way for financial services organizations to add value-but repetitive, time-consuming administration tasks can be a significant drain on productivity.

Maximizing operational efficiency is a key goal for ING Belgium, a fully owned subsidiary of ING Group. Part of a leading European retail and wholesale banking group, ING Belgium manages assets totaling around €4.7 billion and employs 8,200 people.

Private banking for High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) is an important component of ING Belgium’s business. In the past, onboarding new HNWI clients relied heavily on manual, paper-based workflows. Employees re-keyed data collected from new clients into the relevant middle-office systems for processing and approval—a time-consuming process. The bank saw an opportunity to reduce the time it took to activate new clients by eliminating these manual steps.

Enabling Cross-Border Collaboration

A cross-border organization, ING Belgium’s operations are closely integrated with its sister company ING Netherlands. To enable higher levels of efficiency, the organizations decided to standardize on a single core banking platform for both retail banking businesses.

As part of the standardization initiative—named Unite—ING Belgium saw an opportunity to digitize and automate private banking workflows for both countries. As well as offering relationship and portfolio managers a digital onboarding workflow for new clients, it could free the middle office from data-entry tasks.

Marc Vanvilthoven, Product Owner at ING Belgium, comments: “We were confident that implementing digital workflows for our employees would significantly shorten our time to market for contract activation. Crucially, process automation will allow our middle office to focus more on commercial work for the private banking business.”

Embarking on a Digital Transformation

ING Belgium has been using the Temenos investment management platform for more than 20 years to help its portfolio and relationship managers serve their HNWI clients effectively. To build on its success using Temenos solutions, the organization decided to enhance and extend the platform.

Temenos Wealth is well-suited to managing our discretionary and advisory business, but it is also extremely versatile. For example, when the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive [MiFID] came into force, we were able to roll out the solution to our retail banking business to support the new regulatory requirements.”

Marc Vanvilthoven, Product Owner at ING Belgium

Following a successful proof-of-concept exercise, ING Belgium began its digitization initiative for private banking. Powered by Temenos Wealth Front Office, the new way of working will enable employees to onboard clients faster.

ING Belgium is now in the first phase of the project, which involves migrating from its legacy Sybase platform to Oracle Database, which is the current ING corporate standard. For the retail banking division, the project will finish when the organization deploys Temenos Wealth on the new, unified platform for the Belgium and Netherlands businesses. For private banking, the project will continue with the development of automated workflows for its front-of-house and middle-office employees.

Building a Strong Partnership

As it forges ahead with its digital transformation, ING Belgium is collaborating closely with Temenos. In addition to helping the bank achieve a smooth migration from Sybase to Oracle, Temenos helped the bank transition from an on-premises data center to a private cloud environment. The move enables ING Belgium to realize significant reductions in costs and avoid capital outlay on server, storage, and networking infrastructure.

By partnering with a leading enterprise like Temenos, we benefit from their substantial investment in support, research and development. Even though Temenos is a large organisation, we have a direct line to their engineers – so we know that we can get expert technical assistance whenever we need it.”

Eric Mailleux, IT Area Lead, Investments at ING Belgium

Deploying Automated Processes

Today, users in ING Belgium’s private banking business access Temenos Wealth Front Office via a web interface. From here, employees can run crucial compliance processes such as MiFID checks. Soon, the entire activation process for new contracts will be automated from end to end for business users in ING Belgium and ING Netherlands.

Marc Vanvilthoven comments: “By enabling our client and portfolio managers to do more of the client onboarding work directly in Temenos Triple’A Plus, we’re cutting duplicated effort dramatically. Today, our employees can even collect client signatures digitally, which means there’s no need to shuffle paper between different parts of the business.”

Powering Industry-Leading Services

ING Belgium’s digital workflows will improve operational cost-efficiency and free more time for commercial activities. And by enhancing the profitability of its private banking segment, the bank can protect its margins in a challenging economy.

Temenos Wealth offers us the best of both worlds: we can adapt the solution to our requirements without generating unmanageable amounts of custom code. As a result, we’re making the business happy because they can differentiate on the quality and responsiveness of their services. And from the IT perspective, we’re empowering our engineers to develop and deploy new capabilities while keeping technical debt to a minimum.”

Eric Mailleux, IT Area Lead, Investments at ING Belgium

Eric Mailleux concludes: “In 2018, ING was awarded best private bank in Belgium by Global Finance Magazine. Temenos Wealth played an important role in that success, and I would definitely recommend the solution.”

Region

Europe

Solutions

Wealth

Sector

Wealth Management

MMG Bank

Building a market-leading position in Panama’s private banking sector

Panama City, Panama

Bank of Africa, the third largest bank in Morocco, looked to expand beyond its core market by establishing corporate and trade finance operations in China. To meet the stringent requirements of the Chinese regulators, the bank needed to have the infrastructure to support the new services in place within just six months. To achieve its ambitious plans, the bank worked with expert teams from Temenos to deploy Temenos core banking and Temenos Financial Crime Mitigation. The preconfigured compliance functionality of the solutions ensured Bank of Africa met all regulatory requirements, helping it become the first Moroccan bank operating in China. Bank of Africa is now ideally positioned to facilitate trade between North Africa and the Far East.

As the first Moroccan bank to open in China, this expansion will act as a catalyst for economic relations between Africa and China. As the implementation timeframe was so short, Temenos’ packaged software, Temenos core banking, was vital to our plan. By offering a banking platform that is already compliant with Chinese regulations, Temenos accelerated the launch of our operations in China. Thanks to Temenos’ model bank approach, we obtained a new banking license, and have implemented a new core banking system that meets local regulations while supporting BMCE Bank of Africa’s ambitious growth strategy.”

Said Adren, General Manager at Bank of Africa

Region

Asia Pacific
Middle East & Africa

Solutions

Core Banking
Financial Crime Mitigation

Sector

Corporate & Commercial Banking

MMG Bank

Building a market-leading position in Panama’s private banking sector

Panama City, Panama

At A Glance

Smartphone penetration in Saudi Arabia stands at 88%, almost double the global average
Ability to launch new locations in just 4 to 6 months with the Temenos solution
‘Best Islamic Bank in Saudi Arabia’ in 2014

How can it continue to set the standard for high-quality service with so many nimble new players entering the market? For Al Rajhi Bank, it is a case of continuing to observe its time-honored formula of combining innovation with deep-rooted Islamic values and Sharia-compliant practices.

Since its foundation in 1957, these principles have helped the Saudi Arabian market leader to build combined assets of $90 billion and a customer base of 18 million. Along the way, Al Rajhi Bank has earned international recognition from prestigious publications such as The Asian Banker, as well as being named ‘Best Islamic Bank in Saudi Arabia’ in 2014 by Euromoney.

In early 2018, Al Rajhi Bank began investigating breakthrough technologies like Blockchain and was poised to introduce fingerprint identification and electronic signatures. But it also came to realize that it faced a similar challenge to many banks around the world: aging core infrastructure that threatened to restrict future product innovation.

Overcoming Limitations

In the Saudi banking sector, time to market has traditionally been a major differentiator between the leading operators and those lower down the ranks. To develop, launch and manage its offerings, Al Rajhi Bank relied on legacy systems that had been in place since 1998. While well-suited for the marketplace of that time, the bank realized that continuing with this strategy threatened to limit agility.

A spokesperson at the bank, explains: “We operate in a crowded market, where many banks offer similar services and look to seize first-mover advantage to get ahead. With our legacy systems, we had to perform increasing amounts of time-consuming development work to bring new services to market or adapt to changing regulations, increasing our risk of falling behind.”

Embracing the Digital Revolution

Customer preferences have changed dramatically in recent times in the Middle East, with a steep increase in the uptake of digital banking. Research firm McKinsey discovered that 80% of consumers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates prefer to bank online, and half would happily open an account with a digital-only bank. Smartphone penetration in Saudi Arabia also stands at 88%, almost double the global average.

Small digital-only banks and fintechs are already entering the Saudi market with next-generation services, determined to win customers. For established players, the pressure is on to provide engaging digital services to protect hard-won market share. Al Rajhi Bank developed a successful digital presence but wanted to continue evolving its online and mobile services.

A spokesperson at the bank adds: “The majority of our customer transactions are now completed through our digital channels. This makes it vitally important that we continue to enhance the user experience and deliver more innovative, intuitive products. Trying to achieve this by adapting and re-configuring our legacy systems was leading to unsustainable levels of complexity.”

Identifying a Vendor with Strong Islamic Credentials

To continue to thrive in this new banking landscape, Al Rajhi Bank launched a project to transform its core banking platform, issuing a request for proposals to leading international software vendors in mid-2018. After narrowing the search down to a shortlist of four candidates, the bank decided to deploy Temenos Islamic Banking, which provides Sharia-compliant core and digital banking features.

Of all solutions we considered, Temenos offered the most comprehensive set of Islamic finance capabilities. We also noticed that many other leading banks in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates run Temenos, which gave us a great confidence that Temenos Could support us with expert resources in our region.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Accelerating Product Development

Working with Temenos, Al Rajhi Bank kicked off the first phase of the implementation process in January 2019. When the platform is fully deployed, the bank will benefit from increased automation, an agile development framework that enables it to bring products to market faster than ever, and the ability to enhance its digital services and respond to changing customer requirements.

We’re excited about uncovering the full value of the Temenos solutions. One of the most impressive things about working with Temenos is the emphasis they place on research and development, delivering new software releases every year. We now have the most up-to-date, cutting-edge banking solutions on the market in our hands, and this won’t change.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Simplifying Expansion

With the Temenos solution in place, Al Rajhi Bank can facilitate the launch of operations in locations beyond the borders of Saudi Arabia. Over the last 15 years, the bank has established 18 branches in Malaysia, seven in Jordan as well as a presence in Kuwait. Temenos Islamic Banking ensures that Al Rajhi Bank can continue this expansion at speed.

A spokesperson at the bank continues: “Building an international presence is a strategic goal for us, but brings challenges in terms of local Sharia customs and other banking regulations. With the Temenos solution providing pre-configured compliance features along with the ability to adapt our existing service offerings in line with local rules, we believe that we can launch new locations in just 4 to 6 months—a tremendous result.”

He concludes: “Today’s fast-moving market presents many challenges, but with Temenos on our side, we are well-placed to win new customers and maintain our hard-won position as a leader. The Temenos solutions will ensure we continue our long and successful history, and continue to deliver a first-class service that meets the needs of modern consumers while staying true to Islamic principles.”

Temenos digital banking platform will enable us to transform faster, drive out complexity and lower our overall total cost of ownership. Temenos has a worldwide reputation for robust, innovative banking software and an extensive presence and commitment in Saudi Arabia. With Temenos we will be able to introduce new and innovative products more quickly and help reduce operational costs, as well as offer a cutting-edge digital experiences to our customers.”

Mr. Waleed Al Mogbel, DCEO at Al Rajhi

Region

Middle East & Africa

Solutions

Core Banking

Sector

Business Banking
Corporate & Commercial Banking
Islamic Banking
Retail Banking

MMG Bank

Building a market-leading position in Panama’s private banking sector

Panama City, Panama

At a Glance

● Reduce the duration of the close-of-business processes to 2 hours

● Ability to extract daily automated IFRS 9 reports

● Enables the creation of in-depth reports on expected credit losses and asset performance

● Simplifies product development and customization with the latest Arrangement Architecture workflows

Two decades of rapid economic growth have turned Cambodia into one of Asia’s biggest success stories in recent years. While a dynamic retail banking sector has emerged to serve people living in cities, it is the country’s many microfinance institutions (MFIs) that support the rural communities that form the overwhelming majority of the population.

Among the most prominent is Woori Bank, founded in 2003 and one of only seven fully licensed microfinance deposit-taking institutions (MDIs)—meaning it can provide current accounts alongside loans. The MDI pursues a strong pro-poor agenda, offering financial packages that help families save for their children’s education, and providing millions of dollars in loans to help households purchase sanitation products and enable agricultural cooperatives to buy vital equipment.

Woori Bank has won many accolades for social responsibility and financial transparency from leading global development organizations such as the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). And in June 2018, it received another boost as Woori Bank, one of Korea’s leading banks, took over the MDI. As well as continuing its work with Cambodia’s rural communities, Woori Bank is now looking to become one of the major players in the national market.

How to Maintain an Upwards Growth Curve?

With over 60 separate providers, microfinance is a crowded market in Cambodia, and staying competitive is a tough task. For MFIs aiming to remain relevant to customers, there is the temptation to lower interest rates on loans to attract more business, but this erodes profitability. Meanwhile, over-indebtedness among customers is another major challenge and potential curb on growth, especially as financial literacy remains limited in Cambodian society.

Putting in place robust governance structures has therefore been a strategic goal for the government and the National Bank of Cambodia. Over time, they have introduced stronger regulations to align the financial sector with international best practices and accounting standards that require rigorous monitoring of areas such as non-performing loan rates.

The latest step in establishing these solid, sustainable foundations for the sector was the introduction of IFRS 9 accounting standards, which require banks and MFIs to move from reporting on incurred credit losses to expected credit losses. The government set a deadline for all Cambodian financial institutions to comply with the new rules by January 1, 2019.

Tackling IFRS 9 With Temenos

The fast-approaching IFRS 9 deadline posed two significant challenges for Woori Bank. First, the project team had to break down and understand the full requirements of the new regulations. Then, it needed to implement a solution capable of performing the calculations to meet IFRS 9 standards. To achieve these goals, Woori Bank turned to Temenos for an upgrade of its existing Temenos Inclusive Banking core banking systems, including the addition of the new Temenos IFRS 9 module.

Meeting Demanding Deadlines

After kicking off the project in September 2018, Woori Bank gave Temenos and implementation partner MCB Consulting Services Ltd. [MCBCS] just four months to complete the installation. MCBCS took the lead and handled the configuration and testing of the new solutions, with Temenos support. Despite the tight timeframe, the upgrade was ready on schedule and on budget without a single delay.

Mr. Chanveasna Heang continues: “We were extremely pleased with the solution delivery from MCBCS and Temenos. In the past, we have seen many other vendors miss deadlines and exceed budgets. This time, everything ran smoothly thanks to MCBCS’ clear understanding of our requirements and deep knowledge of Temenos Inclusive Banking solutions, and also how technology can truly add as a business enabler.

We recognised the new rules would be a steep learning curve for us but we knew Temenos had a proven track record helping many global banks to achieve IFRS 9 compliance, so they could guide us through the process. When we explored the out-of-the-box solution they were offering, we realized we had found just what we needed.”

Mr. Chanveasna Heang, Head of Projects at Woori Bank

Creating More In-Depth Reports

Using the Temenos module, Woori Bank can now classify its assets as amortized costs or fair value contracts in accordance with IFRS 9 standards before running impairment calculations to determine expected credit losses. By generating reports providing in-depth, forward-looking assessments of asset value within the Temenos solution, the MDI ensures that it can identify and take timely action in the event of non-performing loans.

Without the Temenos solution, we would have to complete the reporting process manually by extracting data from Temenos Inclusive Banking and running the calculations using third-party software, which would take longer and introduce the risk of human error. Equipped with the Temenos IFRS 9 module, we gain the speed and accuracy of automation when preparing our financial reports.”

Mr. Chanveasna Heang, Head of Projects at Woori Bank

Looking Ahead to the Full Benefits of the Upgrade

By upgrading to the latest version of Temenos Inclusive Banking, Woori Bank gained new capabilities that will help it achieve operational efficiencies, improve customer service, and seize a competitive advantage. The MDI has already cut the time it takes to complete close-of-business processes by up to two hours.

Looking to the future, Woori Bank is exploring features within the Temenos solution, including the 360-degree view of individual customer data, which will enable employees to offer more relevant services, and new Arrangement Architecture module workflows that will make it easier to develop and customize new loan and savings products. The MDI is also looking into the Temenos Integration Framework, which it can use to build collaborative projects with partner organizations.

We are excited to learn more about what else we can achieve with our upgraded core banking solutions and hope to attend the Temenos Community Forum to learn more. Working with Temenos is ensuring that we meet our compliance goals and helping us to establish the robust, sustainable business processes we need to bring our services to rural communities across Cambodia.”

Mr. Chanveasna Heang, Head of Projects at Woori Bank

We partnered successfully with

MCB Consulting Services Ltd (MCB Consulting) has been fully incorporated in June 2014 as a wholly owned subsidiary of MCB Group Ltd, the largest financial services provider in Mauritius and increasingly in the region.

Region

Asia Pacific

Solutions

Core Banking

Sector

Inclusive & Community Banking
Retail Banking

The future of banking starts here

Discover how our platform helps financial institutions navigate change, embrace new opportunities, and deliver smarter, faster banking. Together, we embrace the future of finance – Leading Banking Forward.

Contact the team

We're here to help.

Attend an event

Join us live and be part of the conversation.

Explore resources

Expert insights, guides, and news.

Newsletter sign-up

Subscribe for Temenos news, updates, events.