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 Cloud Banking 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

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.

Led by the two pioneers in the banking industry, Frank Trotter and Vincent Amato, the US challenger Bank Battle Bank, has selected Temenos SaaS to underpin the global markets technology stack. Using Temenos’ model bank methodology and the pre-composed banking services, the bank will be able to quickly roll out its world markets division, offering innovative solutions with hyper-efficient cost structures.

With Temenos Core and payments solutions, Battle Bank will be able to offer its clients a diverse set of opportunities in F.D.I.C. insured foreign currency and market index deposits and the ability to acquire, store, and borrow against non-F.D.I.C. insured precious metals.

Lithuanian fintech company FINCI was founded in 2019 with the mission of offering better payment solutions to SMEs, commercial organizations, and large corporates that have long been underserved by traditional banks. The company prides itself on its ability to deliver high levels of personalized service that goes beyond chatbots and automated help centers – for example, every client gets a dedicated account manager and ongoing support.

Today, FINCI serves customers in over 30 countries with a range of products, including business accounts that allow its clients to transact in multiple currencies from a single dashboard to avoid conversion fees, improve cash flow, and make global trade more efficient. It also offers a suite of fast and flexible payment services that are perfectly suited to complex and unconventional businesses. Innovation is a priority for the company: it was awarded the Fintech Innovator of the Year at the 2023 Lithuanian Fintech Awards for accelerating the use of blockchain technology to make cross-border payments faster. It has also developed an open API ecosystem where it joins with fintechs to develop exciting new products. Sustainability is also important to FINCI, which is why it has moved away from plastic cards and has joined Mastercard’s Priceless Planet Coalition.

Better by design

According to FINCI’s CEO Mihails Kuznecovs, traditional banks are failing tens of thousands of businesses. That’s because complex international organizations such as construction companies, flight operators, logistics firms, and software houses need more support than banks are prepared to give.

“Traditional banking relationships are mostly transactional – banks prioritize interest rates and revenue,” Mihails says. “Fintechs tend to be more focused on building products from the ground up to meet exact customer needs. However, many of today’s fintechs rely on technology alone. This also fails complex businesses. That’s why our approach is different. We want to deliver exceptional experiences for our clients, and that requires a human touch.”

This doesn’t mean FINCI shies away from technology. In fact, the opposite is true. Since day one, the company has leveraged best-of-breed solutions from Temenos that have enabled it to realize new efficiencies, lower its operating costs and thereby focus its efforts on delivering a high level of service to its clients.

Big picture thinking

Despite being a startup, FINCI was keen to build its business on a solution that could scale as it grew and support it in the long term. “You have to think big right from the start, otherwise you end up facing problems later on,” Mihails says. “For us, this meant choosing an industry-leading platform.”

Temenos was the obvious choice.“Several of us already had experience with Temenos solutions,” Mihails explains. “I started my career in banking 25 years ago with the DOS version of Temenos. I’ve seen its reputation grow as a reliable, sustainable, and scalable solution. So, the choice was inevitable; we couldn’t have chosen anything else to build our business on.”

Fast time to value

FINCI chose to adopt three key Temenos solutions: core, Temenos Payments Hub (TPH), and Financial Crime Mitigation (FCM). It worked with several implementation partners to ensure it could go to market quickly.

“Temenos has many partners situated across the world – and that’s a huge benefit,” Mihails says. “It means that there’s support capacity wherever and whenever we need it.” This approach has paid off.

Today, the cloud-based Temenos core `allows FINCI to easily integrate with new payment networks such as Ripple Payments. In fact, the company can onboard new payment providers in a matter of weeks, without a huge investment in internal IT staff.

“We can take new products and services to market faster,” Mihails says. “This gives us an edge over the competition.”

Security made simple

At the same time, the advanced security protocols delivered by Temenos FCM have enabled FINCI to identify potential sanctions and anti-money laundering breaches before a payment completes.

With payments screening completed in just seconds, FINCI can offer the instant payment processing its clients are looking for. “We can process thousands of requests per second without any lag,” Mihails explains. “It’s completely reliable – I don’t recall a time when the system has been down.”

All this can be done while staying compliant. “Temenos Payments Hub supports new global and regional payment rails, including SEPA, SWIFT, and the TARGET2 ISO20022 standard, right out of the box,” Mihails explains.

A foundation for growth

FINCI’s rapid growth speaks for itself. The company started with zero customers in 2020 and now has thousands – many of which are large enterprises. “We’ve gone from processing hundreds of payments every day to hundreds of thousands,” Mihails says. “Today, we are processing over €1.2 billion annually. We have realized a 50% growth in card transactions every year and 100% growth in the volume of payments we are processing.”

Mihails says he owes this success to Temenos.

Reflecting on its success to date, Mihails offers advice to other fintechs looking to hit the ground running in such a competitive industry: “Our success is a result of having a scalable solution that removes a lot of headaches for us,” he says. “With that in mind, I’d encourage any like-minded startup to think big instead of thinking local like so many do. As a first step, engage with the Temenos team. Once you start having the discussion, you’ll see the solution come to life and realize just how easily your problems can be solved.”

Embracing the future

This is just the start of FINCI’s journey with Temenos. Having recently extended its contract from three years to eight, the company is keen to embrace new functionalities and services.

“We’re excited to see what we can achieve with Temenos’ new AI capabilities,” Mihails says. “We’re also looking at integrating with crypto, blockchain, and investment product providers as we look to expand into new markets.”

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, 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.

In recent years, BHD Leon has been a key player in the rapid development of the Dominican Republic’s economy, which is now one of the largest in Central America. For the next stage of its growth, the bank aims to expand its customer base of 1.5 million people by launching into new markets and creating customized products for underbanked groups, including women and small businesses. To achieve this, the bank selected Temenos Core banking running on the public cloud to transform its core banking operations. After a two-phase implementation, the solution will enable BHD Leon to automate back-office processes and gain a 360-degree view of client preferences. With this data, the bank will be able to roll out targeted offerings for specific customer groups, helping it to reach new markets and sustain its long-term growth.

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 partnered successfully with Global Logic

GlobalLogic combines design, agility and extensive experience helping clients to innovate and transform their businesses through technology, creating unique software from ideation to implementation.

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.”

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.

At a Glance

• Launched a separate digital-only arm: Saven Finance, to offer highly competitive interest rates and more savings to its members
• 5 minutes to activate new customers
• Fully automated onboarding journeys

Consumer expectations around banking services are rising, and customers are increasingly seeking out providers that can offer 24/7 access to products on the digital channel. To attract new customers and retain existing account holders, it is more important than ever for financial services organizations to offer high-quality online and mobile banking experiences.

Since it was founded in 1939, FirstOntario Credit Union has continued to enhance and extend its range of banking services to grow its client base, which today stands at 126,000 people across the province of Ontario, Canada. To inspire a new generation of customers to engage with its services, FirstOntario Credit Union set out to create its first digital-only channel.

Furthermore, the credit union also recently decided to launch a separate digital-only arm entitled Saven Finance. The new service would offer online and mobile access to unique high-interest savings accounts and guaranteed investment certificates (GIC) with exceptionally competitive rates to 13.6 million Ontarian citizens.

Turning Vision into Reality

After evaluating its back-office systems and processes, FirstOntario Credit Union realized that its core banking system would be unable to deliver the performance, scalability, and flexibility necessary to support the new digital services.

“Our goal is to shape seamless digital experiences, and without the foundation of a future-ready core banking platform, we knew that we couldn’t deliver our target customer journeys,” continues Michael Walsh. “To solve that challenge, we looked for new technology.”

Targeting a Future-Ready Banking Platform

To prepare itself for digital transformation, FirstOntario Credit Union chose Temenos Core banking: a cloud-native, API-first core banking system.

Working together with a team from Temenos, FirstOntario Credit Union deployed Temenos and migrated its core banking services to the new platform.

After two years of stable operations on Temenos core banking, FirstOntario Credit Union was ready to take the next leap forward with the development of its digital channel. As well as choosing a platform to deliver online and mobile banking services, the organization wanted solutions that would automate important journeys such as account opening, enabling it to offer real-time services outside of normal business hours.

To drive its new digital experience, FirstOntario Credit Union chose Temenos digital banking. Michael Walsh comments: “Our positive experience with Temenos core banking made it an easy choice to work with Temenos again for the next phase of our transformation strategy. In addition to providing the technical capabilities we need, the partnership gives us access to Temenos MarketPlace—a curated platform that connects us with FinTech innovations from around the world.”

FirstOntario Credit Union worked closely with Temenos to develop its new digital offerings.

To support the fully digital Saven Financial brand, FirstOntario Credit Union again deployed Temenos core banking and Temenos digital banking. The combination of core banking and omnichannel delivery capabilities provided the end-to-end platform needed to launch the new brand and will enable the swift roll-out of new products and services.

Launching innovative services

FirstOntario Credit Union surged ahead with the development of its digital banking services. Powered by the Temenos platform and a range of FinTech solutions, the organization tested the first prototype of its online and mobile platforms.

With the new digital platform, FirstOntario Credit Union is expected to deliver fully automated onboarding journeys for new customers, helping it to inspire a new generation of consumers to become members.

“Ultimately, we aim to embrace a digital-first strategy and the work we’re doing with Temenos today is an important step toward that goal,” says Michael Walsh. “In the future, there will be no need for our customers to wait for one of our employees to tell them that their new account has been approved. Everything will be automated from start to finish, and within five minutes customers will be able to access their account online. Initially, we will be delivering these services on our digital-only channel, but we can already see great potential in extending the capabilities to our existing customers.”

With Saven Financial, FirstOntario Credit Union is now offering a straightforward, easy-to-use digital-only service with attractive rates and a frictionless customer experience. The launch of Saven will increase the credit union’s reach with consumers, especially among younger digital-native Ontarians looking for flexible anytime, anywhere financial services. In line with FirstOntario Credit Union’s overall strategy, much of Saven Financial’s profits will be reinvested back into local community initiatives.

Getting a progress report from the experts

The organization is now working with expert consultants from Temenos to help ensure that the new journeys meet its customers’ high expectations. The team ran an in-depth assessment of the proposed online account opening solution and provided insights into how the organization’s approach compared to others in the industry

Michael Walsh continues: “Temenos assessment placed us in the top quadrant for our space, which gave us the reassurance that our development efforts were moving in the right direction. Before we go live with the finished product, we plan to invite Temenos back to evaluate our progress.”

FirstOntario Credit Union is confident that the new services will strengthen its leading position in the province.

“The credit union system is built on cooperation, and we regularly meet with our peers to discuss challenges and find solutions,” adds Michael Walsh. “We see that Temenos shares that philosophy, and from day one, they’ve been fully engaged with our business and committed to our success. The amount of investment that Temenos puts into research and development really shines through in the quality of their offering. We have no hesitation in recommending Temenos as a partner and as a world-class banking solution.”

O-Bank is Taiwan’s first digital-native bank. It was initially established in 1999 as Taiwan Industrial Bank, a corporate bank. In 2017, it acquired a commercial banking license so that it could enter the retail space and restructured into O-Bank, or ‘Wangdao’ in Chinese. O-Bank’s Chinese name is drawn from a spirit of inclusiveness, walking the right path, and fulfilling oneself by benefiting others. The English letter ‘O’ represents fulfillment and the unending cycle of life. The bank is committed to sustainability and is focused on delivering innovative financial services products that create win-win outcomes and mutual prosperity for consumers.

Venturing into new markets

Successfully entering the retail banking space is a challenging feat, particularly in Taiwan which is often described as overbanked.

“We only had a year to prepare, build, and launch our retail business,” says Lichen Hung, O-Bank’s Chief Information Officer. “This was a challenge. Since we are a mid-sized operation, we don’t have significant IT resources like enterprise-sized banks, so we are not equipped to build our own infrastructure.”

That’s why O-Bank sought a comprehensive core banking platform, one that could not only enable it to launch quickly, but also support its need to develop and launch personalized, customer-relevant products rapidly.

“Customers are no longer prepared to wait for new products, so we need to act fast,” explains Lichen. “We needed a flexible system to facilitate this and help us deliver personalized offers to our customer base.”

Speed and scalability

Lichen and her team began searching for a solution. Unfortunately, the first two options they found would take more than a year to implement. But then they discovered Temenos.

“The Temenos core banking platform stood out,” Lichen says. “Following discussions with the Temenos professional services team, who shared their previous implementation experience, we were convinced we could make our launch deadline.”

O-Bank was also impressed by the Temenos core banking architecture.

In 2016, O-Bank began the implementation. Everything went smoothly and, although there were some challenges along the way, O-Bank was supported by the Temenos professional services team, which was on hand to provide coaching and offer advice.

“The Temenos team solved all our difficulties. As a result, we met our deadline and, within 12 months, we were able to open our doors as Taiwan’s first digital-native bank.”

Lichen and her team have never looked back. Today, O-Bank has over half million customers, $21 billion USD in assets, and over $100 million USD in profits.

Much of this success is owed to O-Bank’s new-found ability to operate at speed. For example, with Temenos core, the time to onboard a new customer was reduced from seven days to just two or three hours.

Faster time to market

Temenos core banking is also helping O-Bank to launch new products in a matter of days.

Using Temenos core banking’s in-built automation tools, O-Bank can personalize new products to specific customer segments without manual intervention. For example, O-Bank has recently launched a multitier deposit account that pays different interest rates depending on the account holder’s financial circumstances. This approach is already proving a hit with customers. In the quarter following O-Bank’s launch of its multi-tiered deposit account, it witnessed a 12% uptick in account openings and a 75% increase in deposit balances.

A growing success

Since its establishment, O-Bank has grown its customer base each year. These customers are sticking around: “Our success comes from attracting new customers and then keeping hold of them,” Lichen says. “Loyalty is a priority”. We partner with a customer, and then take care of all their financial service needs over their whole life.

O-Bank isn’t resting on its laurels. Thanks to its use of Temenos, it is preparing to take advantage of the opportunities arising from open banking by leveraging APIs to connect with external ecosystems.

This will help it to continue to innovate.

Powerful partnerships

In the longer term, O-Bank plans to migrate its corporate business to Temenos core, too. “Having one core platform is our ultimate goal,” Lichen says. “We will achieve it through our long-term, strategic partnership with Temenos.”

When asked if she would recommend Temenos to other banks like hers, Lichen replied with an emphatic ‘yes’.

“If you want to launch a digital bank from scratch, then Temenos is your best solution,” she says.