ARB Apex Bank

Improving access to secure, convenient digital banking services among rural communities in Ghana

Accra, Ghana

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).

One of the main reasons we selected Temenos core banking is because it offers a multi-tenancy environment, as we are aiming to support well over one hundred banks, we would need to provide secure, dedicated transaction processing resources for each bank. We considered a wide range of vendors and found that only Temenos was able to meet our needs, while also providing excellent reliability and performance.”

Spokesperson at the bank

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.”

What’s more, we have helped rural and community banks to onboard customers more quickly, often cutting out the need for in-branch verification and authentication processes. Using Temenos digital banking Platform, we have cut time for our client banks to complete customer onboarding by over 75 percent, down from 2 hours to under 30 minutes—contributing to a better customer experience.”

Spokesperson at the bank

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’re excited about the potential savings we could achieve with the Temenos Banking Cloud. We have built a very fruitful relationship with Temenos, and we are confident that we will continue to work closely on future projects. Our Temenos solutions are a crucial part of our success in bringing much-needed financial services to unbanked communities across Ghana.”

Spokesperson at the bank

We partnered successfully with

Established in 1982 as a division of Inlaks Plc, Inlaks has grown consistently to reach the leadership position it has attained today. Inlaks is private limited liability company and a member of the international and well re-known Inlaks Group of Companies.

Region

Middle East & Africa

Solutions

Core Banking
Digital Front Office
Financial Crime Mitigation

Sector

Central Banks
Inclusive & Community Banking

ARB Apex Bank

Improving access to secure, convenient digital banking services among rural communities in Ghana

Accra, Ghana

At a 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.

“We aim to boost financial inclusion in Peru, bringing banking services closer to citizens, especially in remote areas traditionally underserved by banks. To reach these people, we focus on innovation, such as digital banking services that enhance accessibility and enable fast and secure services.”

Jaime Bravo Xavier, Alternative Channels Manager at Banco de la Nación del Peru

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.

“Independent analysis from the likes of Gartner informed us that Temenos was the world-leader for core banking, with an excellent reputation for innovation. We also considered the scalability of their solutions, which would allow us a solid growth. Plus, we wanted to take advantage of the technology and infrastructure in the cloud, which will allow us to increase productivity and reduce risks“

Janny Nicasio, Business Solutions Leader at Banco de la Nación del Peru

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.

“Thanks to the Temenos solutions, customers can open a DNI Account in approximately five minutes. And they enjoy immediate access whenever they check their balance online. We have created a seamless, intuitive experience that will continue to attract more users, including citizens previously unfamiliar with digital banking.”

Luis Arrus, Digital Banking Manager at Banco de la Nación del Peru

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 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.

Region

Latin America

Solutions

Cloud & SaaS
Core Banking
Payments

Sector

Central Banks
Retail Banking

ARB Apex Bank

Improving access to secure, convenient digital banking services among rural communities in Ghana

Accra, Ghana

At a Glance

● 50% reduction in time required for end-of-day processing

● Achieved a 200% uplift in mainstream core processes

● 6 months to upgrade the solution supporting loans, bonds, and deposit operations

● Improved currency management and distribution across banks

The State Bank of Pakistan is a critical hinge in the country’s financial system. As the nation’s central bank, it holds responsibility for securing economic stability through the regulation of monetary and credit systems while aiming to encourage economic growth and development. Achieving these goals means the bank requires the most reliable, advanced infrastructure—and, as 2015 came into view, it decided the time was right for a comprehensive update of its core systems.

Since 2000, the State Bank of Pakistan has been using Temenos Solutions, when it implemented two instances of Globus G11 software—the forerunner to Temenos core banking—one for its currency operations, and another for its banking functions. But as time and technology moved on, the bank realized it needed a more open architecture to support greater integration with other systems.

The Upgradability Business Model

Impressed with the latest Temenos software release, the State Bank of Pakistan decided to upgrade from Globus G11 to Temenos core banking R15. But this created a new challenge, as while the bank had been using the older solution, the Temenos software had undergone a complete re-architecting, with major functional changes. In effect, the State Bank of Pakistan was looking to skip 15 years of new releases in one go.

Luckily, the bank discovered it could take advantage of flexible upgrade paths engineered by Temenos.

The bank had a very demanding request, but the Temenos platform has the built-in functionality to accommodate this. At the program level, we could upgrade rather than replace code, and instead of migrating data, we could convert it. The Temenos philosophy of ‘designed for upgradability and change’ holds true.”

Ammara Masood, CEO and President at Systems

Managing Business & People Change

At the outset, the State Bank of Pakistan identified managing and mitigating risk as the main requirement for the implementation strategy for the upgrade project. The bank did not simply approach the changeover from a narrow technical viewpoint, but more importantly, realized there would be major implications from a business process and people change management perspective.

To smooth the 15-year release jump, the State Bank of Pakistan decided to perform the upgrade in two stages back-to-back, with each upgrade a big bang in itself. In the first step, it would upgrade the Globus instance for its currency operations, along with the underlying hardware and operating systems, to a more open environment. One of the key objectives of the first upgrade was to gain knowledge and build experience to make the second implementation a simpler task.

Valuable Lessons Learned

The value of this staggered approach was clear by the end of the project: while the first upgrade took 12 months, the bank completed the second—for the solution supporting its loans, bonds and deposits operations—in just six months.

The implementation highlighted several lessons for people and business change management. Firstly, training and face-to-face support for users was vital to build up their knowledge of the systems and familiarise them with the new processes. Also, data cleansing before the upgrade, along with extensive and exhaustive testing, was hugely important to the success of the project.

By completing multiple rehearsal activities, the bank could maximize user involvement and seize the opportunity to verify data following each run-through. This rigorous approach also enabled the bank to establish processes for robust issue tracking and rapid resolution of major issues encountered during testing.

Key Benefits of the Upgrade

Although running upgrades is often regarded as simply an IT and technical exercise, State Bank of Pakistan recognized that the project would be vital to its overall operations and open the door to continuous business process improvements. Senior executives across the bank monitored progress, provided constant support, and ensured the upgrade investment plans aligned with the expected outcomes.

With the R15 Core Banking solution, State Bank of Pakistan enjoys improved scalability, integration and overall systems performance, along with simplified access to new product updates and periodic fixes. New functionality available to the bank includes role-based dashboards, process workflows, and workflow user events.

These new features, together with other enhancements, have led to greater operating efficiency and productivity, including a 50% reduction in time required for end-of-day processing. The solution also keeps the bank up-to-date with the latest SWIFT messaging standards and global financial regulations.

From the IT perspective, the new Temenos solution is much simpler to maintain and manage, helping the bank to achieve greater product innovation, flexibility and configurability. By moving from a version based on a client-server architecture to the browser-based R15 solution, employees also enjoy easier access, especially those working in the bank’s 16 field offices.

Together, these business and technical improvements will eventually result in reduced total cost of ownership of software and hardware, which will in turn provide additional resources for State Bank of Pakistan to invest in more platform enhancements.

We partnered successfully with

Systems a wholly owned subsidiary of Systems Limited is one of the fastest-growing consulting companies enabling Banks and Financial Institutions to accelerate their mission-critical digital transformations.

Region

Middle East & Africa

Solutions

Core Banking

Sector

Central Banks

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