Challenging banking giants and emerging fintechs using agile, cloud-based solutions
Edenderry, Ireland
In Ireland and beyond, the events of 2020 have had a lasting impact on consumer interactions with financial service providers. Previously, Croí Laighean customers preferred to talk person-to-person in a branch; now, 80 percent of interactions are online. For Croí Laighean, the new challenge is how to create a digital presence that rivals the banking giants and emerging fintechs. To achieve this, the credit union will replace its legacy, on-premises systems with an agile model using Temenos community banking solution delivered as a Software-as-a-Service offering. Hosted by Microsoft Azure, the solution will enable Croí Laighean to automate processes and eliminate the cost and complexity of managing infrastructure. The rich functionality will enable the credit union to deliver outstanding digital experiences and personalized services, helping it to compete with larger operators.
We are delighted to partner with Temenos to transform our digital banking capability. The Temenos platform puts us on a par technologically with the world’s biggest banks. The move from on premise software to the Temenos Banking Cloud was a strategic decision that will set us up for success long into the future.”
Paul Kennedy, CEO at Croí Laighean
We partnered successfully with
Microsoft’s Financial Services group helps financial firms leverage technology to amplify the impact their people can deliver to drive business success.
Challenging banking giants and emerging fintechs using agile, cloud-based solutions
Edenderry, Ireland
With more than 40 million unbanked citizens, Egypt is an ideal market for digital banking services, which lower barriers to access. Suez Canal Bank, one of the country’s top 10 financial institutions, is embracing the opportunity. Using Temenos digital banking, the bank is transforming the end-to-end digital experience for customers from onboarding, through opening an account, to ongoing account servicing. Suez Canal Bank is also building on Temenos technology to develop smart banking solutions such as tailored insights and suggestions, generated by combining advanced analytics with AI capabilities. Working with Temenos, the bank is reducing time-to-market for new products, boosting front-office efficiency, and bring banking within reach of millions more Egyptians.
We are delighted to partner with Temenos to take our digital banking to the next level. Temenos is the market-leader in digital banking technology and has a strong local presence and record of success with banks in Egypt and the MEA region. Enabling and building engagement with our customers via digital channels is a key growth driver that will help Suez Canal Bank to attract a new generation of customers. This is a priority to support our growth plans but also as a boost to financial inclusion in Egypt.”
Hussein Refaie, Chairman and Managing Director at Suez Canal Bank
Challenging banking giants and emerging fintechs using agile, cloud-based solutions
Edenderry, Ireland
Chile’s third-largest bank, Banco de Crédito e Inversiones (BCI), is well-established on its home turf and is now looking further afield for new opportunities. One of its newest ventures is launching a new corporate bank in Lima, Peru, offering superb digital banking experiences. BCI will use the Temenos Model Bank approach to accelerate the launch, built on Temenos core banking, Temenos Payments, and digital front-office technology. The solution will support cross-border payments, and built-in automation will help the bank maximize back-office efficiency. With help from Temenos, BCI is taking the next step in its growth strategy to expand its corporate customer base fast.
We selected Temenos as our strategic technology partner to support us with our growing plan in Peru. Temenos’ advanced technology, scale and international expertise made them the ideal partner. We were also impressed with the company’s strong presence in Americas, as well as its ability to deliver fast implementations even in these times. BCI in Peru will benefit from embedded local best practices and we expect a smooth launch next year. By launching a new bank in Peru and using Temenos’ technology as our differentiator, we aspire to have a state-of-the-art bank for corporate banking in the region.”
Eduardo Nazal, Managing Director, International Strategy Development at BCI
Challenging banking giants and emerging fintechs using agile, cloud-based solutions
Edenderry, Ireland
Orange Bank Africa’s launch in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) region aims at supporting financial inclusion, while capitalizing on digital capabilities and increasing penetration of mobile tech. Orange Bank Africa is fully equipped to achieve reduced IT costs and operational complexity, as well as an improved cost/income ratio. The bank has developed a mobile-first banking strategy to deliver financial services to consumers’ phones supported by Temenos core banking delivered as SaaS, and its cloud-native technology, which is hosted on Microsoft Azure.
Temenos’ cutting-edge cloud technology, relentless focus on innovation and unrivalled regional experience makes it the perfect partner for Orange Bank Africa as we launch our operations. Temenos core banking gives us the scalability we need to grow and provide vital financial services to millions of customers.”
Patrick Roussel, Vice President, MEA Mobile Financial Services at Orange bank
Meanwhile, the Temenos Banking Cloud enables the bank to aim for sustainable, long-term growth and allows them to scale to meet the surge in digital banking adoption in Africa. Temenos’ Model Bank approach provided highly localized, pre-configured banking functionality so the new software could be deployed quickly, without the need for customization.
We partnered successfully with
Microsoft’s Financial Services group helps financial firms leverage technology to amplify the impact their people can deliver to drive business success.
Challenging banking giants and emerging fintechs using agile, cloud-based solutions
Edenderry, Ireland
Launched in 2019, SomBank aims to make Shariah-compliant financial services available to Somalian citizens and businesses. With smartphone adoption rapidly rising across the region, the bank looks to provide flexible, user-friendly services that customers can access via mobile, online, and in branches. To realize this ambition, SomBank recently selected the full front-to-back Temenos Islamic Banking platform, which combines the market-leading capabilities of Temenos digital banking and Temenos core banking, and will enable the bank to develop customized products in line with Islamic rules. Temenos digital front office functionality will also ensure a seamless, unified user experience across all devices and branch locations. With the solutions in place, SomBank will be able to improve access to much-needed financial services and contribute to economic growth in Somalia.
While we are a relatively new bank, Sombank has big ambitions to play a significant role in rebuilding the country’s financial infrastructure by improving access to financial services throughout Somalia and beyond. Implementing the Temenos banking platform in the cloud will allow us to achieve rapid time to value for new digital products and the cost savings to fulfil this vision.”
Challenging banking giants and emerging fintechs using agile, cloud-based solutions
Edenderry, Ireland
At a Glance
● 1st Finance company in MEA to run front-to back banking solutions on the Temenos banking cloud.
● Built a new digital bank from scratch in2 months.
● 1st time in MEA direct interface from the core banking to the central bank without a middle system.
● A leading innovator in the SME market thanks to the new digital capabilities and channels.
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) represent 94 percent of all companies operating in the United Arab Emirates, and play a pivotal role in the country’s prosperity. For these thousands of companies, success often depends on fast access to liquidity—but in many cases, raising loans through traditional banking channels means navigating complex, paperwork-heavy processes..
This is where Al Ain Finance PJSC wants to makebanking better. Founded in Abu Dhabi in 2016 and regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE, the company looks to provide simple, transparent, and practical alternative finance solutions—without the usual hassle and hidden costs. With this client-oriented and innovative approach, Al Ain Finance PJSC aims to help SMEs across the Emirates to gain the working capital they need to thrive.
Selecting digital solutions on the Temenos banking cloud
Since it began operating in 2017, Al Ain Finance built a positive reputation among clients, particularly for its trade finance services. For the next stage of its growth journey, the finance company targeted a broader portfolio, adding enhanced lending, deposits, payments, and digital services. This strategy, Al Ain Finance believed, would help to sharpen its competitive edge, appeal to more potential clients, and win greater market share.
After assessing offerings from several vendors, Al Ain Finance chose Temenos digital and core banking on the Temenos banking cloud to replace its legacy in-house system and achieve end-to-end digital transformation. The front-to-back digital banking offering on Temenos banking cloud will provide the broadest out-of-the-box functionality for Al Ain Finance to deliver differentiated digital experiences to SMEs. The Temenos banking cloud will be hosted on Microsoft Azure and meant that it could be remotely implemented, simplify its digital business model, and drive operational efficiencies.
Some of our business leaders had worked with Temenos at other institutions, and reported very positive experiences. They knew that Temenos provides exceptional capabilities, which very few of our competitors in this region possess. Also, the Temenos cloud delivery model offers huge advantages to us, as we could avoid the added complexity and costs of managing infrastructure, which would have been very difficult without a dedicated IT team working round-the-clock. The Temenos banking cloud will provide us with a pre-packaged, comprehensive corporate banking product to provide superior digital experiences to our SME customers.”
Spokesperson at the bank
Going live in a rapid timeframe
Al Ain Finance managed to implement the new core and digital banking platforms within two months— a proposition made more challenging by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Temenos’ cloud-native, technology was delivered remotely on the Temenos banking cloud to allow the business to respond to increasing demand for digital banking during COVID-19 in the quickest possible timeframe. Temenos and Stoics IT provided the expert resources to complete the go-live for loans, fixed deposits, accounts, payments, and liquidity management solutions within the target date. Soon after, the project team added Temenos digital banking internet and mobile banking functionality and is now working to launch check clearing and direct debits.
Going live so quickly was a great achievement, especially with the disruption caused by the pandemic. Temenos managed the entire process remotely and communicated exceptionally well throughout the implementation. Normally, we would expect a new solution to need some reworking and fine-tuning following the go-live, but with Temenos everything worked from day one”
Spokesperson at the bank
Setting the standard for digital transformation
With the successful implementation, Al Ain Finance PJSC became one of the first finance companies in the region to harness the latest version of Temenos core banking running in the cloud. In another ground-breaking move, the core platform interfaces directly with the systems of the Central Bank of the UAE to enable clients to make secure, compliant electronic wage transfers. Combined with making banking better by providing SME’s with much needed access to liquidity, fast, we see Al Ain Finance as a true “Changemaker”.
“Even employees with limited experience of modern core systems find the Temenos solutions easy to use,” adds a spokesperson at the bank. “They particularly enjoy being able to access consolidated customer information through a single interface rather than having to click between multiple applications. Although Temenos offers cutting-edge, sophisticated functionality, the learning curve for users was very quick and simple.”
Supported by Temenos, Al Ain Finance achieved its goal of broadening its service portfolio and winning more business among SME clients in the Emirates. The company now offers a comprehensive suite of lending, deposits, and payments products. These include enhanced Wage Protection System (WPS) offerings, which help SMEs to pay their workers in a timely manner, while registering transactions with the Central Bank.
Furthermore, Al Ain Finance now offers clients the flexibility and convenience of managing their accounts via internet or mobile channels. Rather than relying on traditional customer verification methods, the company integrated its digital services with third-party biometric security solutions—enabling clients to use fingerprint and facial recognition to confirm their identity and positioning Al Ain Finance as a leading innovator in the SME market.
Customer feedback for our new products has been excellent. Since the launch of our enhanced service portfolio, we have seen marginal increase in client numbers for our WPS offerings, and overall growth in business volumes. All of these were achieved at a lower operational cost.”
Spokesperson at the bank
Leveraging Technology to drive efficiency
The Temenos solutions also helped Al Ain Finance PJSC to develop faster, more efficient business processes. For example, users previously created reports manually using spreadsheets to collate data. With Temenos core banking, the company can generate reports at the click of a button, ensuring business leaders gain insights into market trends sooner, and enabling employees to focus more time and energy on value-add tasks.
A spokesperson at the bank concludes: “Working with Temenos has been a great experience. Whichever direction that we take, we know that Temenos will provide the solutions, expertise, and implementation support to ensure our success. It is a great partnership, and we look forward to the next stage of the journey.”
Microsoft’s Financial Services group helps financial firms leverage technology to amplify the impact their people can deliver to drive business success.
Stoics IT is a leading consultancy company with its primary focus in providing superior core banking consulting & implementation services across Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific for Temenos products.
Challenging banking giants and emerging fintechs using agile, cloud-based solutions
Edenderry, Ireland
Digital-only Banco del Sol is targeting a top-three position in the Argentine retail banking market, followed by an expansion into the SME space that comprises 99 percent of the country’s businesses. To build a compelling service proposition, the bank worked with Temenos partner GlobalLogic to implement Temenos core banking, Temenos Financial Mitigation, and Temenos Data & Analytics — gaining integrated core banking, fraud detection, and reporting capabilities. The bank can now launch new services quickly, scale its operations seamlessly, and deliver a consistently high-quality client experience. With more consumers using online services than ever due to COVID-19, this innovative digital presence will help Banco del Sol to achieve its growth objectives.
We were impressed with Temenos’ proven experience and expertise with both established banks and digital start-ups. That expertise and the company’s relentless commitment to product innovation makes us confident that they will be able to provide the technology we need to meet the highest digital experience of consumers and small business owners across Argentina.”
Spokesperson at the bank
We partnered successfully with
GlobalLogic combines design, agility and extensive experience helping clients to innovate and transform their businesses through technology, creating unique software from ideation to implementation.
Challenging banking giants and emerging fintechs using agile, cloud-based solutions
Edenderry, Ireland
KIB selected Temenos digital banking and Temenos core banking to replace its legacy IT systems and deploy a single, cloud-native, cloud-agnostic digital banking platform to underpin its banking operations. Temenos will provide KIB with a single, packaged and extensible banking platform to digitalize its end-to-end operations. Temenos’ award-winning Islamic Banking solution will support the delivery of innovative digital products that are compliant for KIB’s Islamic retail and corporate customers.
Established in 2010, KIB’s aim is to make financial services easily accessible across Yemen to support socio-economic development and raise the national standard of living. The bank plays an essential role in supporting the livelihoods of local businesses and individuals by providing access to vital financial products and services. By driving significant cost efficiencies, Temenos’ technology will enable KIB to offer more accessible and lower-cost financial services to the Yemeni population and promote financial inclusion.
Temenos differentiated itself from other vendors in its unique ability to combine core Islamic values with modern digital banking services. Temenos’ cloud-native technology will transform our operations by driving incredible efficiency gains, but most importantly, by helping to improve the standard of living for individuals and the prospects for businesses in Yemen.”
Challenging banking giants and emerging fintechs using agile, cloud-based solutions
Edenderry, Ireland
As part of its digital transformation program, Bank of Queensland unveiled a technology strategy that will drive differentiated customer experiences and sustainable growth through its subsidiary, Virgin Mobile Australia.
Virgin Group Founder, Sir Richard Branson comments: “Virgin Money Australia has an ambition to challenge the status quo in the financial services industry. The new Virgin Money Australia digital bank is the antithesis of a traditional bank: it embraces simplicity and rejects the notion of financial complexity. At the core of the Virgin DNA is a challenger spirit, which brings competition to every industry we enter. I am so proud of the Virgin Money Australia team for living and breathing our DNA when designing and building the new digital bank, and keeping the customer at the heart of their decision-making.”
The new Digital Bank will deliver a truly differentiated and exciting Virgin experience. Importantly, Virgin Money Australia is uniquely positioned to build on our existing relationships with more than 200,000loyal customers and a home loan portfolio that has quickly grown to more than $3 billion to effectively compete in the Australian market with challenger and incumbent banks alike.”
Greg Boyle, Group Executive, Retail Banking, at BOQ Group
Virgin Money Australia leverages Temenos’ front-to-back offering with Temenos core banking, the next generation in core banking and Temenos digital banking, the leading omnichannel digital banking product, on the Temenos Banking Cloud. Accessing the solution through a subscription model, Virgin Money Australia will be able to scale usage based on its business growth.
The new Digital Bank has gone live on Temenos modern cloud-based core banking platform, which provides a frictionless and fully integrated digital experience, bringing together credit cards, transaction and savings accounts, plus a loyalty program in a single, native mobile app. Through the modern app, consumers can open an account in minutes.
Challenging banking giants and emerging fintechs using agile, cloud-based solutions
Edenderry, Ireland
Nuestra Caja launched more than two decades ago with a crystal-clear goal: to deliver financial services to low-income citizens who struggle to access the resources needed to achieve economic security. In short, the cooperative (caja) aims to drive financial inclusion within Mexico and to improve the lives of its customers and their families.
In Mexico, cajas populares play a similar role to member-owned financial cooperative (caja) societies in the United States and Europe. Despite successful initiatives run by the Bank of Mexico, research from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reveals there are still millions of people in Mexico without regular access to basic financial services. This is especially true for female citizens and those living in the south-eastern states, which is precisely where Nuestra Caja operates.
Moises Cruz Matias, President of the Board of Directors at Nuestra Caja, explains: “To succeed, we need to reach those sections of society that have been overlooked and underserved by the major banks. That means offering a service proposition that appeals to the likes of small traders, seasonal workers in rural areas, and female citizens, who favor flexible credit agreements and repayment terms.”
Making a fresh start
For Nuestra Caja, the priority is to offer high-quality, user-friendly credit, lending, savings and investment products that align with the aspirations of their target customers. The inevitable challenge is how to marry this focus on innovation with cost-efficiency to ensure that the cooperative (caja) stays competitive commercially.
As it expanded its customer base, Nuestra Caja encountered a familiar problem for financial institutions. The core systems that support its corporate and branch operations were becoming increasingly difficult to scale, manage and maintain. Nuestra Caja decided the time was right to make a clean break and implement a more advanced core platform.
“We realized that continuing with our aging systems would make it harder and harder to achieve our goals,” says Moises Cruz Matias. “We struggled to add new functionality to help us extend our offering, increase efficiency, and create a more compelling in-branch experience. To continue our growth, we looked to modernize using the latest technology.”
Pinpointing the right partner
Nuestra Caja engaged a specialist IT consultancy to provide guidance on the best core solutions available and a series of assessment benchmarks. The cooperative (caja)’s key criteria for the new solution included first-rate reliability and scalability, a clear upgrade plan to ensure access to the latest core functionality, and the availability of expert technical support to assist its development teams. Having analyzed the market, Nuestra Caja identified a standout candidate to replace its distributed legacy systems: Temenos Transact (R22). The cooperative (caja) implemented the Temenos platform across its network of 50 branches and at its corporate offices—providing capabilities for streamlined management of lending activities, greater control of credit risk, flexible product design, and standardized branch teller operations. And for the first time, the cooperative (caja) can now monitor credit risk and view account balances in real time.
Reaping the benefits
Since the initial go-live, Nuestra Caja has seen exceptional results. Take product development, for example. Previously, the cooperative (caja)’s outdated legacy applications hampered development efforts and time to market for new services. The Temenos platform simplified and accelerated this process, providing a set of flexible components that Nuestra Caja uses to create unique lending and savings products tailored to appeal to target customer groups.
“Today, we can bring a new product to market within one week, which represents a huge improvement. With Temenos Transact, we can continually evolve and refine our services, ensuring that we offer the most compelling proposition to potential customers. In fact, since we implemented the Temenos platform, we have doubled our overall customer base and seen our lending business expand by 30 percent, establishing us as a key service provider in the region.”
Moises Cruz Matias, President of the Board of Directors at Nuestra Caja
Beyond these high-level business benefits, Nuestra Caja can also rest assured that it has a robust core platform in place that will keep its operations running round-the-clock without the risk of disruption. What’s more, the Temenos solution provides a clear upgrade path, ensuring the cooperative (caja) can continue to enhance the capabilities of the core platform. And by standardizing operations on a single, proven platform, Nuestra Caja eliminated the cost and effort of maintaining multiple legacy systems.
Fostering collaboration and knowledge transfer
Working with Temenos also yields another valuable outcome for Nuestra Caja: an annual invite to the Temenos Community Forum. The cooperative (caja) takes advantage of this opportunity to meet with leading players from the financial services world, explore the latest new software functionality and best practices, and discover how other clients are making the most of their investments in Temenos technologies.
Moises Cruz Matias continues: “As a relatively small player in the financial services industry, the chance to gain insights from the global leaders is really valuable to our ongoing growth strategy. Add to this that our internal development teams can access first-rate technical assistance and thought leadership from Temenos experts at any time to support our own innovation projects.”
As it stands today, Nuestra Caja has built a base of more than 101,000 customers, 93 percent of which are women.
“Our partnership with Temenos has been integral to our success in bringing financial services to more and more low-income Mexicans. We would recommend Temenos to any other cooperative (caja) or bank considering how to transform their core systems today. You can feel confident in the expertise of their consultants and the quality of their solutions—you will not regret your decision.”
Moises Cruz Matias, President of the Board of Directors at Nuestra Caja
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