At a Glance

• Facilitates the creation and launch of the first fully digital bank in Trinidad & Tobago
• Enables the management of three separate banking entities on a single instance of Temenos Core Banking
• Simplifies the development of new services for different markets with a flexible, modular architecture
• Elastic scalability and exceptional cloud performance will help to support rapid customer growth

For more than 40 years, ANSA Merchant Bank has played an important role in the economic development of the Caribbean. Headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago, the bank provides financing, investment, and wealth management solutions to individuals, businesses and government bodies, locally and regionally.

Since its establishment, ANSA Merchant Bank has focused almost exclusively on commercial loans and project finance. But now, it’s making moves into retail banking, with the acquisition of Bank of Baroda, rebranded as ANSA Bank in early 2021. ANSA Bank will be a new type of bank in Trinidad and Tobago, focused on offering customer-centric digital services rather than serving clients via traditional bricks-and-mortar branches.

A spokesperson at the bank explains: “We set a high bar for ourselves with ANSA Bank, as we are looking to create the very first fully integrated digital bank in Trinidad and Tobago. Our vision is to widen the services available to individuals and businesses in the local market. We want to offer something that will improve the lifestyles of our customers and help them reach their financial dreams.”

Modernizing the core environment

To achieve its growth plans in the retail and business banking spaces, ANSA Merchant Bank needs a technology foundation that is agile, flexible, and scalable. Traditionally, the bank relied on a homegrown core system to support its client services, but this was increasingly difficult and costly to operate. Managing the system, for example, soaked up many hours and relied on the availability of experienced in-house teams.

To reduce risk and complexity, ANSA Merchant Bank planned to modernize the core environment, moving away from the homegrown system and onto a proven, best-of-breed platform with full vendor support. By adopting a more modern, streamlined core solution, the bank aimed to improve internal efficiency and support the delivery of more differentiated services across all entities and business lines.

Finding the right solution

After assessing potential vendors, ANSA Merchant Bank selected Temenos as its new core banking platform. The Temenos solution would allow the bank to access a rich ecosystem of functionality to support the development and delivery of retail and business banking, and wealth management services. ANSA Merchant Bank decided to run Temenos core banking on the Temenos banking cloud.

a spokesperson at the bank explains: “We knew that Temenos was a market leader for core banking solutions, with real expertise. When we engaged Temenos, we were immediately impressed with their communications and commitment to our success. And their robust, scalable solution was also just what we needed. The focus Temenos has on building new capabilities for its clients was another major plus-point.”

Setting up fast in the cloud

Working closely with expert service delivery teams from Temenos, ANSA Merchant Bank successfully implemented Temenos core banking running on the Temenos banking cloud on Microsoft Azure. By opting to deploy the core banking platform using the software-as-as-service (SaaS) model, the bank was able to speed the implementation process and enable fast access to key banking services for its users.

ANSA Merchant Bank enjoys a very successful working relationship with Temenos, as spokesperson at the bank confirms: “We are building a really strong partnership with Temenos. We enjoy great communications, especially with their cloud team, who we speak with three times every week. Whenever we have questions about functionality or need support, Temenos are always quick to respond with a resolution.”

Bringing a new digital model to market

Today, ANSA Merchant Bank uses Temenos core banking running on the Temenos banking cloud as the agile, modern core platform behind its retail banking, investment and wealth management services. Thanks to the multi-company architecture of Temenos, the bank can run all of its entities on a single instance of the core platform—helping to minimize costs and complexity, and improving operational efficiency.

A spokesperson at the bank continues: “We have well-established merchant banking operations in Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, as well as our new retail banking arm. Within Temenos core banking, we have set up a separate, tailored environment dedicated to each of our operations, with all the tools we need for supporting clients and product development. With Temenos, it is easy for us to roll out services tailored to our target markets.”

The flexibility of Temenos core banking proved a crucial component in the successful acquisition and development of digital-first ANSA Bank, as spokesperson at the bank adds: “Following the acquisition of Baroda Bank, we migrated their core environment onto Temenos, avoiding the cost and hassle of purchasing a new system. Once this process was complete, we could start to build innovative digital banking services.”

Supporting long-term growth

With Temenos core banking running on the Temenos banking cloud, ANSA Merchant Bank has a powerful combination of elastic scalability, agility, and leading-edge product development functionality. The Temenos solutions provide a strong foundation for the bank to drive innovation in its range of products and services, and to achieve long-term growth in its customer base in Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and beyond.

Reaping the benefits of the cloud

In addition, adopting the Temenos banking cloud has enabled ANSA Merchant Bank to reduce costs and operational risk. The bank no longer has to maintain physical infrastructure, or worry about running critical management processes such as backups and upgrades. Furthermore, the enhanced security of the Temenos SaaS model keeps the bank well-protected against the threat of cyberattacks.

A spokesperson at the bank continues: “The Temenos banking cloud has been very stable, and the performance has been phenomenal—even as our database has grown at a rapid rate. We have enjoyed exceptional uptime rates, and have the option to add extra processor capacity whenever required. Throughout ANSA Merchant Bank, there is real confidence in the robustness of Temenos core banking and the Temenos banking cloud.”

We partnered successfully with Microsoft

Microsoft’s Financial Services group helps financial firms leverage technology to amplify the impact their people can deliver to drive business success.

Learn more about Microsoft

At a glance

• First Schedule I bank in Canada to measure and disclose entire Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions
• Enables 93.53 to 97.05% reduction in emissions by using Temenos banking cloud rather than on-premise infrastructure
• Achieved carbon neutral status for Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions

EQ Bank stands apart among Canadian banks by offering a simple, customer-centric approach to banking that enriches people’s lives. Founded in 2016, the digital-only bank serves more than 360,000 customers, and was named “Canada’s Best Bank” in 2021 and 2022 by Forbes Magazine. EQ Bank takes its responsibilities to customers and the wider community seriously, including in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters.

The spokesperson at the bank explains: “We are increasingly focusing on building a robust ESG strategy, simply because it’s the right thing to do for the good of the environment and society at large. We are committed to doing as much as we can, as fast as we can, from creating an inclusive culture within the bank to planning and implementing effective procedures that improve our sustainability.”

Targeting carbon neutral status

During a review of existing ESG practices, EQ Bank found that its social and governance frameworks were aligned with industry best practices and federal regulations. However, the Bank identified an opportunity for improvement in its environmental strategy, and decided to focus more energy and resources on developing a more proactive approach to measuring its greenhouse gas emissions and tackling climate change.

The spokesperson at the bank continues: “We were already fully paperless in our back office, and the only Schedule I bank in Canada to operate using a branchless business model, cutting our energy requirements. But we wanted to do more to reduce our emissions and find ways to achieve carbon neutral status. In the long term, we are aiming to move towards net zero, in line with the Canadian government’s commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.”

Accessing trusted, reliable emissions data

One step in EQ Bank’s new environmental policy was making ESG a board-level priority, with the Governance and Nominating Committee now responsible for overseeing initiatives. Employees, too, are fully engaged in the program, with the Green Team, an Employee Resource Group, providing education on environmental sustainability to colleagues and offering feedback and suggestions to the Bank’s leadership.

To support the journey towards target setting, EQ Bank aimed to establish an accurate measure of its Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions: direct emissions from its own operations, and indirect emissions generated by its partners, suppliers, and customers. This approach would ensure accountability and full disclosure of the Bank’s entire carbon footprint and provide a baseline for targeted reductions—but implementing it posed challenges.

“To create accurate calculations of our carbon footprint, we need access to high quality, comprehensive emissions data across our value chain.” adds the spokesperson at the bank. “This becomes especially difficult for Scope 3 emissions, which cover emissions generated by activities that we finance, and goods and services we purchase. Engaging with our suppliers is therefore essential to ensure we work with trusted, reliable, and detailed data.”

In the effort to reduce emissions, EQ Bank also recognized that working with partners who place a similar emphasis on ESG issues would form an important part of its long-term success. For example, the Bank looks to embrace green technologies that help to optimize operating efficiency and minimize its infrastructure footprint.

Partnering with climate-conscious technology providers

An important component in the progress of EQ Bank’s ESG program has been its collaboration with Temenos, and its use of the Temenos banking cloud running on Microsoft Azure. In part, this reflects the willingness of Temenos and Microsoft to share data on their own emissions in the form of information dashboards, which have helped EQ Bank to calculate their Scope 3 emissions with accuracy.

“Temenos and Microsoft have been model partners to EQ Bank,” comments the spokesperson at the bank. “They share our focus on ESG issues and readily provide a detailed breakdown of their carbon footprint whenever we request it. This ensures we can build a reliable picture of our Scope 3 emissions, without needing to rely on estimates.”

Crucially, using the Temenos banking cloud enables EQ Bank to increase its energy efficiency and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. By migrating its on-premise version of Temenos core banking onto the Temenos banking cloud, EQ Bank became the first bank in Canada to host its core banking system in the cloud.

Microsoft research suggests that this cloud model is up to 93 percent more energy efficient, with 98 percent lower carbon emissions compared to traditional on-premise server deployments. And by harnessing the Temenos banking cloud, EQ Bank has achieved savings in 2021 of between 93.53 and 97.05 percent in metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions compared to running an on-premise alternative.

Leading the way among Canadian banks

Working with Temenos has also enabled EQ Bank to improve its ESG reporting and accountability. Accurate data on its infrastructure usage helps the Bank to build a complete picture of its environmental impact, which is now disclosed through a comprehensive Environmental, Social and Governance Performance report.

Looking ahead to net zero

EQ Bank has also noticed that its focus on environmental sustainability has made a positive impression with customers, as the spokesperson at the bank explains: “We saw a year-on-year increase of our customer base by 32 percent in March 2022. While this is not entirely due to our sustainability plan, we strongly believe that our focus on ESG strengthens our appeal. Customers know they are depositing their money with a bank that does the right thing.”

Moving forward, and as the quality of emissions data improves, EQ Bank intends to formulate specific, attainable reduction targets, with 2023 as the expected base year for its commitments. In time, the Bank also hopes to reach a position where it can set a realistic timeframe for achieving net zero status.

We partnered successfully with Microsoft

Microsoft’s Financial Services group helps financial firms leverage technology to amplify the impact their people can deliver to drive business success.

Learn more about Microsoft

Société Arabe Internationale de Banque (saib) is among the fastest growing banks in Egypt. Headquartered in Cairo, saib provides retail and Islamic banking products that help individuals to achieve their financial goals, and corporate and business banking services to support companies embarking on industrial, agricultural, real estate, foreign trade, and commercial ventures. With 37 branches, the bank manages total assets of USD 4.5 billion.

Moustafa Marzouk, Chief Information Officer at saib explains: “We pursue an ambitious growth strategy and aim to cement our status as one of the leading financial service providers in the country. For example, we are currently constructing seven new branches and increasing our network of ATMs to expand our coverage within Egypt. We want to continue to reach more customers and grow our share of our domestic market.”

Addressing new challenges and opportunities

In recent years, the Central Bank of Egypt has encouraged the development of state-of-the-art digital banking infrastructure to satisfy growing consumer demand for more flexible and user-friendly financial services. This shift has created valuable opportunities for banks like saib. However, to avoid falling behind nimble competitors, saib must move fast to offer best-in-class digital banking services.

Moustafa Marzouk continues: “Many Egyptian banks are investing heavily in building their suite of digital banking services, and that makes for a very competitive market. Speed and innovation are essential for us to stand apart from other banks: we need to go to market quickly to gain first-mover advantage, and offer cutting-edge products that meet the requirements of different market segments.”

There is also a growing fintech sector within Egypt, presenting another golden opportunity for saib. Moustafa Marzouk adds: “We are seeing more fintechs emerging here, with new ways of delivering financial services to consumers. To capitalize on this trend, we need to forge partnerships with fintechs to harness their ideas, and to enhance our offerings by integrating their solutions with our banking environment.”

Another challenge centers on the availability of financial talent within Egypt. To push forward with the digital transformation agenda, banks like saib need the right knowledge and experience among their ranks—but traditionally there has been a limited numbers of young professionals skilled in digital banking. To remedy this, saib aimed to implement processes to nurture and develop a new generation of finance leaders.

Working with a best-of-breed core banking platform

To support its growth journey, saib has forged a long-term partnership with Temenos. The bank was the first in Egypt to implement Temenos as its core banking solution back in 2001, and in the 20 years since it has continued to upgrade the platform to ensure access to the latest functionality and capabilities. As a mark of the success of the collaboration, saib recently renewed its license agreements with Temenos.

saib makes extensive use of Temenos core banking across its retail, corporate, and business banking operations. The solution supports high-speed transaction processing, account servicing, product development work, and much more. Significantly, the latest versions of the Temenos platform provide open API capabilities, which will enable the bank to integrate seamlessly with fintech solutions.

In particular, saib harnesses the Arrangement Architecture module within Temenos core banking to create customized banking services for each market segment, as Moustafa Marzouk confirms: “The Arrangement Architecture gives us lots of freedom to develop a different service proposition for each demographic—from small businesses in need of capital to consumers looking for credit cards with unique rewards.”

He continues: “Temenos core banking offers exceptional flexibility and ease of use. Our developers and business users can create new products and services without support from our IT teams, which is a major advantage. Our users have become keen advocates for the Temenos platform.”

Increasing customer base and market share

With Temenos core banking, Saib has gained the speed and agility it needs to achieve lasting success in the Egyptian market. Intuitive development tools in the platform enable the bank to cut time-to-market for new products and services. It takes now just a couple of weeks, which means a 50% decrease in Turnaround Time (TAT). Recently, saib has launched many innovative offerings—including award-winning credit cards, mobile wallets, and a first-of-a-kind electronic payment wristband—that are helping it to differentiate itself from other banks and to support the national drive towards a modern banking ecosystem.

Indeed, from 2019 saib saw an incredible increase of retail customers and product sales, compared to 2018 when the bank had nearly no retail banking portfolio. Auto loan was one of saib’s top selling retail product in 2020.

Training the next generation of banking leaders

The partnership between saib and Temenos extends beyond technology into financial talent identification and development. Together, the bank and Temenos have created a scheme that enables university graduates in Egypt to complete in-depth training courses that increase their knowledge of the ongoing digital transformation of the banking sector, and the role of new solutions.

“Working with the Temenos Academy, we have created a phased learning program that helps graduates to understand the issues facing Egyptian banks today, and the right strategies for the future,” adds Moustafa Marzouk. “We are closing the talent gap and training the next generation of finance professionals, who will have the skills and expertise needed to lead our bank and ensure success in the years ahead.”

Becoming a more agile and competitive institution

The partnership between saib and Temenos continues to go from strength to strength. Currently, the bank is working with Temenos on another upgrade of the core platform, which will provide additional tools and capabilities for developing digital banking services. And in the medium- and long-term, saib also intends to work with Temenos to plan and build new electronic payments solutions.

One of the listed banks in Taiwan, Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank (SCSB), has selected Temenos and IBM to replace its legacy core systems with Temenos open platform for composable banking. IBM Consulting will lead the SCSB modernization project with implementation partner Nagarro/TechMill. Earlier this year, the companies expanded their collaboration, leveraging IBM Consulting and Technology combined with Temenos open platform for composable banking to accelerate clients’ digital transformation while de-risking their journeys to the hybrid cloud. SCSB has a worldwide network and handles large volume of remittances from Taiwan to worldwide. With its subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Cambodia, SCSB manages total consolidated assets about US$75 billion and net worth about US$7 billion.

The first bank to use blockchain accountant confirmations, SCSB is one of the pioneers in digital banking. Replacing its core system with Temenos will enhance the bank’s overall competitiveness and allow it to scale more efficiently by running multiple entities and lines of business on a single banking platform. SCSB will adopt Temenos core banking, payments, and data lake functionality to support Retail, Corporate, Trade and Treasury banking, including offshore and domestic deposit and remittance businesses. The bank will also adopt Temenos country model banks for China and Hong Kong to make implementation simpler and more cost-efficient.

We partnered successfully with Nagarro

Nagarro is a global digital engineering leader with a full-service offering, helping Temenos clients become innovative, digital-first companies and enabling them to run intelligent and agile operations powered by data and automation.

Learn more about Nagarro

At a Glance

•  Cuts customer onboarding times by 75%, down from 2 hours to under 30 minutes

• Helps rural and community banks to increase financial inclusion with user-friendly mobile banking

• Ensures client banks meet compliance objectives with real-time transaction monitoring

Founded in 2000, ARB Apex Bank PLC operates as a ‘mini’ central bank for almost 150 rural and community banks located across Ghana. Managing over GH₵ 7 billion in total assets, ARB Apex Bank supports more than half of the banking sector in the African country, providing digital banking, cheque processing, remittance, and correspondent banking services, as well as issuing government securities.

A spokesperson at the bank comments: “Our core mission is to help rural and community banks improve financial inclusion throughout Ghana. We aim to achieve this by delivering a range of centralized banking services to these institutions, which enable them to offer convenient, user-friendly banking products to their customers in a highly secure, regulated way.”

Listen to Michael Appiah, Head of Operations at ARB Apex talking about how ARB Apex Bank partnered with Temenos to modernize core banking and drive financial inclusion across Ghana’s rural communities.

Improving financial inclusion

Estimates from the Bank of Ghana indicate that 7.3 million adults in the country do not have bank accounts*. The national government is working to reverse this by prioritizing financial inclusion initiatives through the establishment of rural and community banks across the country. But to reach as many citizens as possible, these institutions rely on support from larger banks. And this is where ARB Apex Bank PLC aims to make a difference.

A spokesperson at the bank explains: “Rural and community banks are typically located far from cities and financial centers, so often struggle to access high-performance, dependable banking infrastructure. For example, some rely on siloed legacy systems and manual processes, which limits their ability to develop and offer innovative services and stay up to date with national compliance rules.”

Crucially, many rural and community banks lacked the ability to monitor customer transactions in real-time—generating significant risk. With new regulations in Ghana set to come into force requiring real-time transaction screening, the bank set out to help.

ARB Apex Bank PLC planned to offer a new set of services that would help the smaller banks keep pace with the regulatory change. Alongside this, the bank aimed to provide enhanced core banking functionality to client banks, along with the capabilities for them to launch digital banking services to reach a wider range of citizens.

Taking a centralized approach

To deliver the new suite of core banking, digital banking, and fraud prevention solutions to rural and community banks, ARB Apex Bank PLC teamed up with Temenos. The bank decided to build a centralized banking platform powered by Temenos core banking with Financial Inclusion capabilities, Temenos Digital Banking Platform, and Temenos Financial Crime Management (FCM).

Today, ARB Apex Bank uses Temenos Solutions to support 147 rural and community banks, which have a combined total of 850 branches. ARB Apex Bank delivers core and digital banking services to these client banks through its secure private cloud environment based in Accra as one of the largest data centers in Ghana. Rural and community banks connect via radio, VSAT, and fibre networks to send and receive transactions in real-time. ARB Apex Bank PLC also leverages Temenos FCM to help its clients monitor transactions as they happen.

A spokesperson at the bank adds: “Temenos and its delivery partners Inlaks and TextGenesis were very helpful throughout the implementation, from installing and configuring our core banking solution to deploying the mobile and online banking tools. If we ever encounter an issue, Temenos are always on hand to provide a fast resolution. They’ve even gone the extra mile to help ensure that we satisfy the unique regulatory requirements of the Ghanaian banking sector.”

Driving digital innovation

Using Temenos Digital Banking Platform, ARB Apex Bank PLC is enabling rural and community banks to offer convenient, secure, and reliable mobile banking that makes it easy for their end customers to access vital financial services.

“We’re proud of the many innovations we’ve made with Temenos Digital Banking Platform,” says a spokesperson at the bank. “For instance, we’ve made it possible for customers of rural and community banks to use mobile banking services, which means they no longer have to spend time traveling to a branch to send and receive payments. Similarly, we are working with social enterprises to create a field collection service that enables small business owners to deposit money with approved agents in community hubs like markets.”

Since rolling out the Temenos solutions, ARB Apex Bank PLC has seen significant growth in customer deposits among its client banks. Mobile and digital banking has proved especially popular among traditionally unbanked communities. As of December 2021, ARB Apex Bank is managing the equivalent of USD $900 million in deposits, and the bank expects this figure to rise as more customers sign up with client banks.

Enhancing regulatory compliance

The Temenos solutions have also helped ARB Apex Bank PLC to enhance regulatory compliance and financial crime monitoring in the rural and community banking sector.

“Temenos FCM has been a real game-changer for us,” explains the spokesperson at the bank. “It enables us to send and monitor high volumes of transactions in real time while using up minimal network bandwidth. With Temenos FCM, we can maintain a high level of transparency into transactions to prevent fraud and other illegal activity, and ensure that smaller rural and community banks comply with stringent national regulations.”

Looking ahead, ARB Apex Bank PLC is exploring the possibility of moving its suite of Temenos solutions into the Temenos Banking Cloud—a move that will help to reduce operational IT costs and increase agility.

We partnered successfully with Inlaks

Learn more about Inlaks

Founded in 1838, Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) is the oldest and largest banking institution in Mauritius. MCB provides a range of personal, corporate and institutional banking services through a local network of 40 branches. The bank also maintains a strong regional presence, operating through subsidiaries and associated companies in Madagascar, Maldives, Mozambique, Seychelles, Dubai, South Africa, Kenya and France.

Although MCB has a long history, it has always focused on looking forward. The bank has built a reputation for innovation, being the first financial institution to introduce ATMs to Mauritius in the 1980s. It was the first to launch a mobile banking app: MCB Juice, which has since, upgraded several times to allow users to check their accounts, transfer funds, manage cards, pay bills and view investments among others all while on the move. A new beta version of the mobile banking application is under test that will reveal further enhancement and new functionalities.

Reza Chady, Architecture Chapter Lead at MCB, confirms: “Innovation plays a very important role in our culture, and we pride ourselves on being able to adapt to a demanding operating environment. Today, customer preferences and regulatory requirements are evolving rapidly. To stay ahead of the change, we need banking systems that are flexible and adaptable, while also providing a secure environment for delivering our services.”

Getting fit for the future

As part of this continuous push to innovate, MCB set out on a journey to update and transform its core banking infrastructure. The bank has been using Temenos Core since 2007 and, after years of expansion, it felt that the time was right to change the bank’s setup. Key objectives for MCB were rationalizing what had become a complex systems landscape, and achieving greater economies of scale and speed across multiple subsidiaries and banking functions.

“Our core banking landscape has not grown in a very uniform way,” explains Reza Chady. “Previously, we maintained 5 different versions of Temenos Core, with individual environments for each operating entity. This approach was overly complex, and made it difficult to scale the business and execute new strategies in a unified way—not to mention adding considerable cost and management overheads.”

Core banking, upgraded

To rationalize and streamline its core banking environment, MCB decided to consolidate all of its separate entities on one centralized Temenos Core technical stack, running in its private cloud. This cloud-powered platform has shaped the heart of a new digital backbone at MCB, transforming current business and operational processes to gain greater efficiency, agility and innovation.

For its new private cloud environment, MCB opted for a container-based architecture. The bank’s development team already had a positive experience using the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform for creating containerized applications for its digital channels. So naturally, the team was keen to build on the platform again when it came to the core banking renovation.

Assembling an expert team

The core banking upgrade and private cloud migration represent one of the bank’s most ambitious recent projects. To minimize risk and ensure a smooth execution, MCB engaged Temenos services experts for their support and guidance.

Adopting a low-risk, step-by-step upgrade strategy

Together, MCB and Temenos identified that a phased approach was the smartest way forward for the upgrade project—reducing complexity and risk. As the first stage in the implementation, MCB migrated the core banking environment of one of its entities in the Maldives onto the latest version of Temenos Core.

Reza Chady continues: “The initial upgrade took around six months to complete and went very smoothly. Since then, the latest version of Temenos Core has been working perfectly, as is the Red Hat OpenShift environment. The combination of Temenos and Red Hat has proved really powerful, and we are very pleased with the stability and performance we have achieved since the upgrade.”

Following Maldives successful and smooth upgrade, we proceeded with MCB Mauritius core banking upgrade from R23 to R24. Following another positive outcome and smooth implementation, this upgrade has been extended to our remaining regional subsidiaries—Seychelles has been upgraded to R24, while Madagascar continues on R23, ensuring alignment with regional deployment strategies.

Currently, the Mauritius COB time has been reduced to around 2 hours 20 minutes from an initial average COB time of around 7 hours.

Strategic Adoption and Modernized Management with OpenShift

MCB strategically selected the OpenShift Container Platform as its container orchestration solution for its robust enterprise features, which have greatly enhanced operational agility and efficiency.

Leveraging OpenShift, each Application Server instance is deployed as an independent Pod, simplifying management and ensuring isolation. Horizontal Pod Autoscalers (HPA) dynamically scale workloads based on performance metrics, while Prometheus provides real-time monitoring and alerting for proactive system oversight. In addition, OpenShift’s rollout-based restart mechanism enables application instances to restart without service interruption, ensuring zero-downtime deployments and improved service availability.

Ongoing initiatives

In parallel, the bank is rolling out the Temenos Extensibility framework, which will allow it to connect its core banking platform to different third-party services.

MCB is deploying Temenos Payments Hub in November 2025 and evaluating the Temenos Data Hub to enable near-real-time data processing.

Increasing agility and cutting costs

MCB is already getting compelling results from its core banking upgrade. With Temenos Core running in its private cloud environment, MCB has opened up a whole new world of agility and scalability, which has already accelerated time-to-market for new client services with a streamlined development pipeline. MCB will now be able to schedule one upgrade at least per year per subsidiary with a 50% shorter execution time.

The bank is also unlocking major cost savings by consolidating on a single core banking instance and database, as Reza Chady explains: “By migrating to Temenos Core in our private cloud, we expect to reduce our hardware estate by at least 70%. Likewise, by consolidating from individual instances to a single core banking platform and database, we expect to realize significant savings on licensing costs, as well as administrative and maintenance resources.”

Reaching new horizons

The benefits and value of the core renovation will only increase as MCB works to bring more of its entities onto the latest version of Temenos Core. Building on the well-established partnership with Temenos, the bank is looking forward to a brighter future.

Established in 1964, St Raphael’s Garda Credit Union was formed to serve the needs of An Garda Síochána, Ireland’s national police force. From a membership of 119 people in its first year, the organization has grown to become the country’s largest credit union, now made up of more than 39,000 Gardaí and their families.  A not-for-profit co-operation, the organization has a member-centric approach to its business.

Claire Byrne, Chief Executive Officer at St Raphael’s Garda Credit Union, says: “We serve almost every part of the police force, with members living all across Ireland. What sets us apart from other financial institutions are the deep relationships we cultivate with our members which have been built on more than fifty years of mutual trust and respect. Our primary objective is to look after the financial well-being of all our members, and we work hard to truly understand each member’s needs, and to offer them best-in-class lending and savings products and services to help them achieve their financial goals.”

Meeting new expectations

In recent years, consumer expectations around financial services have shifted dramatically. Today, customers increasingly expect the ability to engage with their provider on any channel—branch, contact center, or digital device—and to switch between these channels seamlessly throughout their journey.

“As a not-for-profit co-operative, we can provide lending and savings products at extremely competitive rates, since we’re not dependent on external money markets” explains Claire Byrne. “While great prices, service levels and products are crucial, easy access and speed of decision has become increasingly important and therefore constant investment in how we deliver our services has also become equally important. In Ireland and around the world, the financial services sector is evolving rapidly. As digital banking becomes the norm and new entrants such as fintechs enter the marketplace, it’s vital for St Raphael’s to offer high-quality online and mobile experiences to compete effectively and ensure we remain central in the provision of financial services for our members.”

Targeting digital transformation

To realize its goals, St Raphael’s set out on a far-reaching digital transformation. The aim was to provide members with streamlined digital services: empowering online and mobile users to complete important journeys such as loan origination end to end. St Raphaels will always offer members a choice in the channels they choose to use, whether that is to visit a branch, call a customer service agent, or to utilize our digital channels.

Selecting a proven partner

For many years, St Raphael’s has been a leading innovator in Ireland’s financial services industry. When Ireland’s regulatory framework for credit unions was updated, the organization was the first to offer mortgage products to its members. The company was also an early adopter of digital services, working with Temenos to support its first online banking experience using an earlier version of Temenos core banking more than a decade ago. Based on its positive experiences with Temenos Financial Inclusion solution, the credit union decided to build its new digital experiences on the latest generation of the Temenos core banking solution along with Temenos digital banking platform.

“To realize our vision for the omni-channel customer experience, we targeted even tighter integration between our front, middle and back office – and that’s exactly what Temenos allows us to do,” comments Claire Byrne. “As a small business, we greatly appreciate the wealth of technical expertise and customer experience best practices that our partnership with Temenos brings to St Raphael’s. Crucially, with Temenos front-to-back platform, we can deliver consistent journeys across every channel and digital device.”

Realizing the vision

Working with its Temenos business partner Banktech, St Raphael’s mapped out the target workflows and configured Temenos core and digital banking platform to enable the new omni-channel experiences. The solution includes an entirely digital process for loan origination—the first of its kind for any credit union in Ireland.

“Our transformation was complex, and the process was further complicated by the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, which struck right in the middle of the project,” recalls Claire Byrne. “Despite the challenges we faced, the excellent collaboration between our team, Banktech and Temenos helped us to keep our work on track. Although social distancing and lockdown measures forced us to switch from a co-located project team to colleagues working remotely from the UK, India, and the USA, we were determined to succeed—and our switchover to the new solution went very smoothly.”

Ensuring 24/7 services

Today, St Raphael’s uses Temenos Financial Inclusion to support its core banking workflows from end-to-end, while Temenos digital banking platform allows the organization to deliver outstanding digital experiences to its members, online and on mobile.

“The transition to the latest version of Temenos core banking was practically seamless for St Raphael’s employees,” comments Claire Byrne. “The Temenos solution is extremely intuitive, which allowed our people to get started with minimal training. Most importantly, the solution is also extremely resilient and reliable.  Our members are front-line staff, working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We need a service that is resilient and reliable, and Temenos core banking enables us to keep our services running smoothly 24 hours a day.” Thanks to intelligent automation powered by our Temenos solutions, members can now apply for lending products from their smartphone and receive an approval within minutes—any time, day or night. After just 10 months, a massive 35% of all our loans now originate on the digital channel, which is a testament to the value our members see in the service.”

Accelerating adoption, generating operational efficiencies, and reducing risk

St Raphael’s members have been quick to embrace the new online and mobile experiences. The organization has measured an 80% year-on-year increase in new registrations for its digital services, and an increasing number now seek out these channels for day-to-day transactions.

Automation at St Raphael’s isn’t limited to customer-facing services. Behind the scenes, Temenos core banking allows back-office teams to work more efficiently than ever. Claire Byrne confirms: “One of the impacts of the new solution that we didn’t fully anticipate at the beginning of the project was just how much time it would save in the back office—, particularly around regulatory controls. Automation has allowed us to reduce manual processing by around 85%, which cuts the risk of human error and liberates our teams to focus on value-added work.”

Looking to the future

Looking ahead, St Raphael’s plans to build on its success with Temenos and drive continuous enhancements to the customer experience. The next step is the move to the cloud, in collaboration with Temenos.

Temenos Ambassador Awards 2022

Delighted to recognize St. Raphael’s Garda Credit Union as one of the winners of the Innovation Hero Awards for deploying an innovative and impactful project, using a Temenos solution.

We partnered successfully with

Hong Kong’s first homegrown virtual bank, WeLab Bank, has publicly launched using cloud-native Temenos core banking platform to provide a range of next-generation digital services for customers to enjoy 24/7 from their mobile phones. WeLab Bank was designed, built, and launched using cloud-native Temenos core banking platform in less than 10 months. The fully digital bank has seen rapid take up with a reported 10,000 account openings within the first 10 days of launch. With the preconfigured system of Temenos core banking platform, WeLab Bank was able to bring its service to market faster and extend its innovation with more than 400 out-of-the-box APIs.

Implemented on Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, WeLab Bank is the first multi-cloud digital bank in Hong Kong. Operating on multiple clouds at the same time provides increased operational resilience and disaster recovery capability, which helped WeLab to meet reliance and resolution planning requirements of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority for all banks.

Developing a cost-effective and scalable core banking solution was paramount for WeLab Bank. With Temenos, WeLab bank is set to transform banking in Hong Kong. In as fast as 5 minutes, customers can remotely open a WeLab Bank account with $0 monthly fees and start enjoying differentiated services such as time deposits with competitive rates, an interest-bearing deposit account with an instant virtual Debit Card, and real-time payments powered by Faster Payment System (FPS). This makes it easy for WeLab Bank to scale for future business growth efficiently and eliminates the need to provision for peak processing volumes so that the bank only pays for its actual usage, yielding significant cost savings.

At a glance

• One of Vietnam’s most established commercial banks with 6 million retail customers and 100,000 corporate clients
• Modernized with Temenos Core, Temenos Payments Hub, and Temenos Data Hub
• 10% customer and account growth, 180% transaction volume increase within six months of go-live
• 2–5x acceleration in time to market for new products

Founded in 1991 in Hai Phong City, Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB) has grown to become one of the country’s most prestigious financial institutions. With a charter capital of VND26 trillion and nearly 6,700 employees, MSB serves more than 6 million retail customers and 100,000 businesses through a national network of 260 branches and transaction offices.

MSB is known for its forward-thinking approach and deep commitment to customer-centric innovation. As the first joint stock commercial bank in Vietnam, it has always embraced a pioneering spirit—one that is now focused on shaping the future of digital banking in Vietnam.

Time for change

Like many traditional banks in Vietnam, MSB found itself at a crossroads. The rapid rise of digital-native competitors and changing customer expectations—accelerated by the post-COVID shift toward 24/7 digital banking—made transformation essential.

Customers, especially younger generations, no longer saw banks as physical branches. They expected services to be available instantly, digitally, and seamlessly—from simple payments to more complex lending, trade finance, and forex services. At the same time, the Vietnamese government and central bank began pushing for a cashless society, further accelerating the pace of change.

MSB’s legacy core system had served the bank well. However, it became no longer fit for purpose for a bank accelerating its digital transformation journey.

To move forward, MSB needed a strong, stable, and flexible foundation to support the bank’s long-term digital ambitions.

Wanting a state-of-the-art solution

MSB’s selection criteria was expansive. The new system had to be rich in features, such as straight-through processing and product innovation tools. It needed to be highly customizable, easily integrate with other software, and cloud compatible. It had to be scalable, so that increasing levels of performance and availability could be achieved cost-effectively. And the bank wanted a vendor with a long term vision and commitment to the country’s banking industry and wider market.

After a thorough evaluation process, MSB selected Temenos to power its modernization. Three key solutions were deployed: Temenos Core (providing a modern, scalable banking platform); Temenos Payments Hub (TPH) (enabling efficient, integrated payment processing); and Temenos Data Hub (supporting advanced analytics and data-driven decision making).

Temenos stood out across a number of factors: a rich product suite; a modular and API-enabled architecture; the availability of on-premises, SaaS or managed cloud deployment options; its track record coupled with its long-term vision; and the strength of its implementation team. This all combined to deliver a more optimal total cost of ownership.

An outstanding impact

 With Temenos providing the powerhouse for change, MSB has kicked off new digital programs, among which a new mobile and internet banking platform for retail and corporate clients. The benefits of MSB’s modernization have been significant.

Within just six months of going live customer and account volumes increased by 10% and transaction volumes surged by 180%. Additionally, the bank has seen maintenance costs fall significantly, and a 2-5 times acceleration in time to market for new products.

It is now launching complex new products to market in a matter of weeks instead of months. These include rate sharing sponsored lending for employee apartment buyers; certificate of deposit buy and sell; and forward rate agreements (CCS/IRS).

Trusted beyond the tech

Mr. Nguyen explains that the experience and expertise of the Temenos team was crucial in achieving this fast start. He points to three key areas of the implementation. First, striking the right balance between a fast deployment while ensuring no compromise on the customer experience. Secondly, setting smart priorities while creating enough flexibility in the plan to be agile. Finally, the value of piloting new capabilities as early and as often as possible.

The experience, he adds, demonstrates how Temenos is far more than a technology vendor. “They are equally committed as we are to making our investment work. They define success not simply about the now, but about delivering our long-term vision.”

Looking ahead, MSB plans to continue building on this foundation. The bank is exploring upgrades to the latest Temenos releases and evaluating the Temenos Financial Crime Mitigation suite to strengthen compliance and risk management.

Mr. Nguyen and his team are now looking to the future with more confidence than ever.

At Glance

• 2.16 million DNI accounts opened in the first six weeks, with peaks of more than 89,000 daily enrollments.

• Approximatively 5 minutes for customers to activate digital accounts, 90% faster than using the previous core platform.

• Sub-millisecond response times ensure a fast, seamless customer experience

Banco de la Nación del Peru plays a pivotal role in the Peruvian financial system, operating both as a central and a retail bank. On the one hand, the bank manages state accounts, foreign trade and debt, collects taxes and makes payments on behalf of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Banco de la Nación also runs programs that support financial development and improve quality of life for Peruvian citizens.

Delivering vital financial assistance

The COVID-19 pandemic made Banco de la Nación’s work more important than ever. To protect vulnerable citizens and businesses, the Government launched a series of relief schemes, including the Yanapay bonus, a state grant for low-income households and those living in poverty.

To disperse Yanapay funds to citizens in need, the Ministry of Economy and Finance asked multiple financial institutions, including Banco de la Nación, to implement a payment strategy. In response, the bank made available, among other services, the DNI Account, named after the official term for citizen identification numbers in Peru. Opening a DNI Account would enable users to receive payments from Yanapay, as well as accessing other financial services, virtually, without exposing them to the risk of contagion.

Janny Nicasio, Business Solutions Leader of DNI Account Project at Banco de la Nación del Peru, continues: “In the long term, we wanted the DNI Account to offer citizens a range of innovative and integrated banking capabilities, such as interbank money transfers, withdrawals in correspondent agents and payment of services. And ultimately, our dream is for all Peruvian citizens to enjoy access to a DNI Account.”

Building an agile core banking environment

Pedro Martin Hidalgo, Technical Leader of DNI Account Project at Banco de la Nación del Peru explains: “Rather than use our mainframe-based systems, we decided to deploy a new core environment to support the DNI Account. Along with rapid product development and exceptional performance, we wanted a solution that would provide an intuitive customer experience and help to encourage adoption among Peruvian citizens to digital banking.”

Deploying a proven, world-class platform

To identify the right solution, Banco de la Nación conducted an analysis of several market-leading vendors. Ultimately, the bank chose to work with Temenos and his business partner Techmill Technologies* to deploy Temenos core banking, Temenos Analytics, and Temenos Payments running on the Temenos banking cloud.

Pedro Martin Hidalgo adds: “Techmill Technologies* coordinated the implementation to meet our timelines, and their communications and dedication have been positive. Their support has been integral to our success.”

The Temenos solutions sit at the heart of Banco de la Nación’s digital banking ecosystem, integrating with systems from ten other vendors, including customer acquisition, communications, and digital wallet tools. Once live, the bank’s multidisciplinary teams used the Temenos solutions to test and optimize the DNI Account.

Janny Nicasio comments: “During the development phase, the Temenos banking cloud really showed its value. We could run multiple environments at the same time, which simplified stress testing (carried out in 2021) and simulations; and allowed us to measure aspects such as transaction times before fine-tuning our approach. Adopting the cloud model made a challenging and potentially complex process much easier.”

Reaching millions of citizens in need

Since the launch of the DNI Account in October 2021, Banco de la Nación has achieved extraordinary growth, with over 2.16 million accounts activated in the first six weeks and peaks of more than 89,000 daily activations.

Pedro Martin Hidalgo adds: “Reaching more than two million DNI Accounts in such a short time period represents a huge success for Banco de la Nación. Working with Temenos, we have created a digital banking service that enables vulnerable and low-income Peruvian citizens to receive vital Yanapay support payments, which will help them through these challenging times.”

An intuitive experience that encourages adoption

Despite rocketing demand and transaction volumes, the performance, scalability, and robustness of the Temenos solutions ensure a seamless experience for DNI Account holders. After adapting together the different platforms, the Temenos solutions provide sub-millisecond response times for Banco de la Nación customers when checking their accounts, with minimal errors and deviations even during peak transaction times. As a result, users are highly satisfied with the service.

Bringing financial services to every corner of Peru

Banco de la Nación del Peru plans to add a number of features during 2022 and 2023, including transfers, payments, virtual POS and digital wallet options. In 2022, Banco de la Nación expects to reach more than 10 million DNI Accounts, for Peruvian citizens over 18 years old. It is estimated that, by December 2023, the DNI Account will make it possible for all Peruvians over 18 years old to have a 100% digital bank account. With this account, they can carry out operations through various physical and virtual channels such as receiving payments, saving, making transactions, and even having a financial history.

Janny Nicasio concludes: “Working with Temenos and Techmill Technologies* has been satisfying It has helped us take another step towards our goal of making the DNI Account available to all Peruvian citizens.”

*Techmill joins forces with Nagarro

We partnered successfully with Nagarro

Nagarro is a global digital engineering leader with a full-service offering, helping Temenos clients become innovative, digital-first companies and enabling them to run intelligent and agile operations powered by data and automation.

Learn more about Nagarro