Accelerating the pace of Innovation and growth through Next-Generation Core Banking System
Manama, Bahrain
One of MENA’s leading international banks, Bank ABC will replace its legacy core banking systems for its network of operations serving customers in twenty-five markets from fifteen countries worldwide with a single instance of the Temenos platform. Temenos and Systems will replace its core banking systems for its retail, corporate and wholesale businesses and furthermore power its subsidiary, ila Bank, the MENA region’s fast-growing digital mobile-only bank. Consolidating multiple back-end systems on the Temenos platform in the Cloud will enable Bank ABC to drive scalable efficiency, with a single dashboard and complete 360-degree customer view across business lines and geographies.
Today, marks a momentous milestone in our journey to build our bank of the future. Consolidating our banking systems on a single platform will give us a robust foundation to accelerate growth and create significant value for our stakeholders. Temenos offers an ideal Cloud-native solution with the breadth of banking functionality needed to support all spectrums of our wholesale and retail businesses. I am confident that this next-generation core banking system will drive further operational efficiencies for the Group, enabling us to become even more responsive and adaptive to our clients’ ever-evolving needs.”
Sael Al Waary, Acting Group CEO at Bank ABC
The first phase of the project is the implementation of Temenos retail core banking solution and origination on digital banking for ila Bank. Subsequently, Bank ABC will leverage Temenos’ cloud-native solutions and its open and API-first architecture for easy extensibility and open banking integration to enhance the experience and the services delivered to its customers. The project will see the gradual transformation of the Group-wide core banking infrastructure, enabling Bank ABC to benefit from Temenos’ broad set of banking functionality and lower operational cost across its retail and wholesale banking operations.
Achieving operational agility is crucial for the future success of Bank ABC. We are continuously exploring leading-edge technologies to enable our ambitious expansion and digital transformation aspirations. Temenos’ platform will enable us to efficiently scale our services. In addition, hosting our core banking system on the Cloud will significantly increase our levels of security and resilience. We look forward to working with Temenos and NdcTech teams during the implementation phase and reaping the benefits of this investment.”
Ismail Mokhtar, Group Chief Operating Officer at Bank ABC
We partnered successfully with
Systems LTD empowers banks and financial institutions wherever they are on their paths of transformation and partners with them to create lasting value. Systems does this to build Banks of the future.
Accelerating the pace of Innovation and growth through Next-Generation Core Banking System
Manama, Bahrain
London-headquartered Deep Tech and Banking company, Tintra PLC aims to create true fiscal inclusion in trade and finance across the emerging world delivered via a strategic network of full bank licenses on four continents and using advanced artificial intelligence, machine learning, and Web 3.0 technologies. Tintra will be using Temenos core banking platform, customer onboarding, market-leading payments, and its Financial Crime Mitigation solution to power its innovative new bank designed solely for emerging market clients. The Tintra technological innovations will connect via APIs with Temenos’ open platform to deliver a single, end-to-end solution for onboarding, transaction management, monitoring and forex services. In addition, with Temenos’ low-code integration and APIs, Tintra can easily customize its banking services to meet the unique needs of its customers and quickly adapt to changing market conditions.
Tintra currently is in discussion with regulators globally and has already secured a Fintech Services License to operate in the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) and Payment Intermediary Service License in Mauritius. Tintra has opted to host Temenos banking platform on private cloud and its own datacenters in markets where required by regulators. Temenos’ regional functionality and packaged country model bank framework will help Tintra to quickly comply with local regulations and business practices at a lower cost.
We are delighted to partner with Temenos, the world’s most trusted core banking platform. Tintra has global ambitions and building our borderless banking infrastructure on top of Temenos means we benefit from Temenos’ vast global experience and the regional functionality of its country specific model banks. This will enable us to go-live faster and focus investment to bring our revolutionary AML/KYC solution to market, whilst at the same time giving global regulators the assurance that our core banking services are built for today and the future.”
Accelerating the pace of Innovation and growth through Next-Generation Core Banking System
Manama, Bahrain
At a Glance
• Supports 4.5 million customers and secures 33% of the Islamic banking market in Pakistan
• Rises to fourth largestPakistani bank from 13th in 2009
• 30% faster product development enables innovation and boosts appeal to customers
• 20 times rise in depositsand 400% growth in branch network since 2009
• 90% more online transactions than over-the-counter transactions.
Meezan Bank has achieved a meteoric rise to become the largest Islamic bank in Pakistan. Initially established as an investment bank, Meezan Bank became the first Islamic commercial bank of Pakistan in 2002, with a comprehensive range of Shariah-compliant retail, business, treasury, trade finance, and corporate banking services.
Ali Imran Khan, Deputy Chief Information Officer at Meezan Bank explains: “We aim to be first choice for people seeking financial services without compromising on their faith. By bringing our offerings to more consumers, we hope to improve financial inclusion and create a more equitable society.”
In recent years, the Islamic banking market in Pakistan has become increasingly popular. Although Meezan Bank is the pioneer, there are now many other Islamic and conventional banks with Shariah-compliant offerings. So how has Meezan Bank managed to rise so quickly and maintain its status as the premier Islamic bank in Pakistan? One key factor has been the Bank’s longstanding focus on strengthening its technological infrastructure. Over the years, the Bank has held a longstanding partnership with Temenos.
Aiming for a streamlined and scalable approach
In the years following its launch, Meezan Bank saw consistent growth in customer volumes, deposits, and transactions. Gradually, though, as the Bank’s popularity grew over time so did its demands for an efficient technology strategy. At that time, each branch ran its own servers to record and process transactions. But as the bank expanded to more than 150 locations, there was a need for a more sustainable, less complex and costly solution.
Ali Imran Khan continues: “Our legacy core banking system was decentralized. Customer data was not stored centrally and we had to do extra efforts to enable the online transactions. We continued to add hardware when we opened a branch, which resulted in managing hundreds of servers, taking up valuable time and resources.”
Harnessing a centralized core system
To maintain its upwards growth trajectory, Meezan Bank looked to replace its legacy systems with a powerful, centralized core banking platform. After assessing potential solutions, the bank chose Temenos core banking, engaging Temenos business partner Systems Limited to plan and manage the implementation.
Temenos core banking offered high levels of scalability and the opportunity to implement international best practices. The solution also provided useful multi-book accounting functionality. Temenos works with many leading banks in Pakistan, and Systems Limited has extensive experience working on major transformation projects.”
Ali Imran Khan, Deputy Chief Information Officer at Meezan Bank
During the deployment, Systems Limited helped to familiarize users at Meezan Bank with the tools in Temenos core banking, as Ali Imran Khan confirms: “It’s important to have knowledgeable partners for large-scale projects. Systems Limited and Temenos were excellent: they not only resolved any issues/challenges faced, but also helped us build our internal skillset.”
Enabling seamless fintech integrations
Today, Meezan Bank uses the full suite of modules within Temenos core banking to support its operations—from deposits and treasury services to Islamic trade finance. The bank is also exploring using the open API capabilities of the Temenos platform to integrate with third-party solutions.
The functionality of Temenos trade finance platform is very rich and Temenos is continuously enhancing it, adding integration with other systems, as well as partners. The automation features have significantly reduced processing times, allowing us to handle a higher volume of transactions with unparalleled efficiency.”
Ali Imran Khan, Deputy Chief Information Officer at Meezan Bank
Ali Imran Khan adds: “Islamic fintechs are a growth market in Pakistan, especially in payments and financing. We have already connected our core platform with services from one startup, and we know that it will be quick and easy to onboard others. In time, we expect the Pakistani market to move towards Open Banking; Through continuous investment in digital infrastructure and innovation, we aim to pioneer the future of banking, making it more accessible, convenient, and customer-centric. Temenos core banking gives us the integration capabilities we will need to capitalize on the shift.”
Expanding the scope for innovation
Using Temenos core banking, the bank integrated the core platform with its digital and mobile channels to enable customers to access their accounts, check transactions, and make payments anytime, anywhere.
Innovation is integral to our success, and we invest heavily in research into combining leading-edge banking services with Shariah guidelines, Temenos fits right into this mix. With Temenos core banking, we have reduced time to market for new products by at least 30 percent compared to our legacy systems—which helps us to increase our appeal to consumers.”
Ali Imran Khan, Deputy Chief Information Officer at Meezan Bank
Meezan Bank can now launch a product in 3 to 4 months’ time, previously, it was more than a year.
Reaching millions of customers
Replacing distributed legacy systems with a centralized core platform has made expanding the bank’s branch network much easier. Now, the bank simply onboards new locations to the platform, without adding local infrastructure. Meezan Bank had around 200 branches when Temenos was deployed; it now has more than 1000 across Pakistan.
Enhanced services and a wider branch network have contributed to a much larger customer base: Meezan Bank has more than 4.5 million customers and is now the most profitable Pakistani bank. Meezan Bank also continues to lead the Islamic banking market, with a 33 percent share—When Temenos was deployed, Meezan Bank had just reached the top 15 banks in Pakistan, with deposits of PKR 100 billion; today, it is ranked number four, with deposits of PKR 1.66 trillion. On the digital front, Meezan bank’s transaction volume are growing, with 90% more online transactions than over-the-counter transactions.
Ali Imran Khan continues: “Temenos core banking has been one of the important components in our phenomenal growth. The platform allows us to innovate and seamlessly manage much higher transaction volumes.”
Winning international recognition
Meezan Bank’s success has brought plaudits within Pakistan and beyond. The bank has been named as the ‘Best Bank’ – (2018 & 2020) and ‘Best Consumer Bank’ (2022) at the most prestigious Pakistan Banking Awards by IBP Pakistan, as well as being heralded by prestigious international publications such as Global Finance, Asiamoney and The Banker.
“Temenos is one of our most valuable partners: they are committed to our success, offer an excellent product roadmap and a first-class solution. In our 14 years of operations with Temenos, we were able to roll out numerous initiatives where we had some challenges but with help from Temenos team we were able to resolve these challenges in a timely manner. We look forward to the next stage of the collaboration as we continue to expand our products and services and build a fairer and more prosperous Pakistan.”
Ali Imran Khan, Deputy Chief Information Officer at Meezan Bank
We partnered successfully with
Systems Limited is a global technology public limited company founded in 1977 with the mission to offer holistic transformations to its clients.
Accelerating the pace of Innovation and growth through Next-Generation Core Banking System
Manama, Bahrain
At a Glance
• Sets new standards for innovation as one of the first digital-only banks in Ecuador
• Plans to bring new banking services to one million existing cardholders and business clients
• Running on the Amazon Web Services public cloud provides exceptional levels of availability
• Data analytics supports development of differentiated, hyper-personalized services
Since 1968, Diners Club Ecuador has been among the premier financial service providers in South America. Part of Grupo Pichincha—one of the largest finance groups in the region—Diners Club Ecuador was the first issuer of credit cards in the country, and has since extended its services to include payments, insurance, investments and much more. The organization now serves around one million cardholders and merchants.
Mónica Carrión, Vice President of Services Center Club Ecuador, explains: “We lead the Ecuadorian credit card market through continuous innovation and improvement. We are always focused on building lasting relationships with our clients and merchant clients, helping them at every stage of their lives.”
Tackling a fresh challenge
In recent years, a regulatory change has created a valuable opportunity for Diners Club Ecuador. The new rules allow the organization to operate as a full-service bank, rather than solely as a credit card issuer and merchant acquirer. To take advantage of the new financial landscape, Diners Club Ecuador planned to launch user-friendly banking products, including deposits, loans, and mortgages.
We wanted to embrace a digital-first model, giving clients the flexibility to access our services online at the click of a button on a 24/7 basis. This would also make us one of the first digital-only banks in Ecuador. To broaden our appeal to new clients, we aimed to tailor our banking services to address the needs of different market segments.”
Mónica Carrión, Vice President of Services Center at Diners Club Ecuador
Making the transition into banking would require a new technology strategy. The key requirement was a powerful, scalable core banking platform to manage transactions, ensure compliance, and support always-on digital services. Alongside this, Diners Club Ecuador looked to enhance its data analytics capabilities to enable the development of smarter, more targeted products and services.
“Exceptional performance and availability were absolute musts for our new core solution, as just one second of downtime could have huge costs and significantly damage the client experience,” adds Mónica Carrión. “We wanted to extend our use of predictive models and AI beyond credit scoring and risk management to understand client behaviors in more depth.”
Harnessing proven solutions from the market leader
After compiling a shortlist of providers that could deliver core banking and sophisticated analytics solutions in South America, Diners Club Ecuador decided to deploy Temenos core banking and Temenos Analytics running on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.
We noted that third parties including Gartner and Forrester ranked Temenos as the world-leader for core banking platforms. Plus, we received excellent references from other banks using Temenos solutions, which gave us confidence. Temenos could offer real thought leadership in the banking sector, too, which would be helpful as we had previously concentrated solely on the credit card market.”
Mónica Carrión, Vice President of Services Center at Diners Club Ecuador
She continues: “Another point in favor of Temenos was their investment in research and development; we knew we were getting the best and latest banking functionality. The cloud model is part of our long-term innovation strategy, allowing us to optimize cost efficiency and outsource infrastructure management.”
Implementing high-performance cloud-native tools
Diners Club Ecuador worked with Temenos to implement and configure the core banking and analytics solutions running on the AWS cloud. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the organizations employed a remote working model to maintain momentum on the project.
Mónica Carrión adds: “The deployment was a steep learning curve, but Temenos offered support at every stage.”
The Users across the IT, product design, innovation, and marketing departments at Diners Club Ecuador now harness the Temenos solutions to develop digital banking services, monitor and analyze online client interactions, and process transactions. Easy to scale, the cloud-native Temenos on AWS solutions have been purpose-built to provide high levels of performance, resilience, and security.
Our teams were very quick to get to grips with the capabilities within the Temenos solutions. We find the robustness and availability of the platform and the flexibility of the development tools very useful, which allows us to set parameters for new products and services”
Mónica Carrión, Vice President of Services Center at Diners Club Ecuador
Bringing digital banking to Ecuador
Working with Temenos, Diners Club Ecuador is adding banking products to its existing credit card portfolio. Already, existing clients are opening bank accounts, with more services planned for the coming months. The simple, secure 100% digital banking offerings will enable users to access accounts, and check and manage transactions while on the move, 24/7.
Among the services currently under development are interest-bearing deposits accounts, advance billing services for businesses, and mortgage loans. The organization has also created bespoke lending products for merchants that enable users to sign up online with just a few clicks; within a few months, Diners Club Ecuador has already granted loans worth tens of millions of US dollars.
Mónica Carrión explains: “With Temenos, we have enhanced our value proposition, bringing user-friendly digital banking to the market. In the coming months, we aim to cross-sell banking services to one million existing clients, as well as winning new business”.
Using Temenos Analytics, Diners Club Ecuador is uncovering insights into client preferences, as Mónica Carrión confirms: “With Temenos Analytics, we can analyze clients’ purchasing habits and create more compelling and hyper-personalized banking services. This will help to inspire long-term loyalty.”
Building a more successful future
Diners Club Ecuador is also keeping a close eye on Open Banking regulations in Europe, with the possibility that the rules could soon be extended to Ecuador. If this happens, the API capabilities of the Temenos platform will place Diners Club Ecuador in an excellent position, enabling seamless third-party integrations.
Temenos are a world-class partner. Building on our long and successful history, we see an even brighter future, with Temenos playing a key role in our evolution. We are setting the standard for finance innovation in Ecuador and within the Diners Club International franchise network globally.”
Mónica Carrión, Vice President of Services Center at Diners Club Ecuador
We partnered successfully with
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a secure cloud services platform, offering compute power, database storage, content delivery and other functionality to help businesses scale and grow.
Accelerating the pace of Innovation and growth through Next-Generation Core Banking System
Manama, Bahrain
Baiduri Bank is one of the largest providers of financial products and services in Brunei, and serves diverse customer segments ranging from retail, MSMEs to corporate and institutional clients. The Bank offers a comprehensive suite of digital solutions including an award-winning mobile banking app and dedicated business digital banking service. The bank will adopt Temenos banking services for core banking, data analytics and financial crime mitigation (FCM) to support its retail and corporate banking, finance and wealth management operations. With this move, Baiduri Bank will be the first bank in Brunei to operate its core banking platform in the cloud under the SaaS model.
Since 2020, we have embarked on a digital transformation journey with the aim of leveraging technology to elevate operational efficiency, analytical capabilities and ultimately, customer experience. Our core banking project, a strategic investment will be the next, and most significant milestone in this journey.”
Ti Eng Hui, Chief Executive Officer at Baiduri Bank
Replacing legacy systems with Temenos modern SaaS on Microsoft Azure will enable Baiduri Bank to offer superior customer propositions with personalized offerings at a fraction of the time and cost. The move to Temenos Banking Cloud will commence in 2023, led by Temenos implementation partner Tech Mahindra. Temenos Banking Cloud allows Baiduri Bank to progressively renovate its IT landscape using a composable banking approach to deploy new services faster, more cost-effectively, and at scale.
To succeed in the fast-evolving digital landscape, we need flexible, scalable solutions that are both responsive and efficient. Temenos Banking Cloud opens up new opportunities for Baiduri Bank by providing instant access to world-class banking capabilities and the flexibility to consume what we need as we need it. Moving to SaaS for core banking is a first for a Brunei bank and a major step forward for Baiduri Bank. We engaged IDC to undertake a thorough market evaluation and Temenos was selected for its composable architecture and breadth of banking services to meet our current and future needs.”
Ti Eng Hui, Chief Executive Officer at Baiduri Bank
Microsoft’s Financial Services group helps financial firms leverage technology to amplify the impact their people can deliver to drive business success.
Tech Mahindra, a global certified partner of Temenos, delivers complex core banking integration projects on multi-variant delivery models to the BFS industry.
Accelerating the pace of Innovation and growth through Next-Generation Core Banking System
Manama, Bahrain
Established in 1975 as a public shareholding company, Invest Bank offers a wide range of financial products and services for corporate as well as retail banking. Invest Bank intends to leverage Temenos’ event-driven open-API architecture and extensibility framework to go beyond banking and create a lifestyle services platform. The premier commercial bank in UAE, has selected Temenos to take its digital and core banking to the cloud in partnership with Systems.
Invest Bank will adopt an end-to-end retail and wholesale banking solution on the Temenos Banking Cloud, becoming one of the first in the UAE to adopt a full SaaS model for its digital and core banking platform. The front-to-back capabilities of digital banking and core banking delivered as SaaS on Temenos’ open platform for composable banking will enable Invest Bank to modernize legacy platforms, bring new products and services to market faster, as well as deliver more innovative customer experiences. Planned enhancements include instant onboarding and origination with automated approvals based on AI-based rules. The bank will also use the Temenos platform to improve operational efficiency with increased automation and digitized workflows.
We are proud of this partnership with Temenos and NdcTech to transform our digital and core banking. We strive to be a pioneer when it comes to customer experience and digital services and with Temenos, the future is today. The bank’s core and digital banking services will be working seamlessly together on a single platform. This will help us to foster innovation, automate workflows, as well as deliver digital experiences to meet our customers’ evolving needs faster and at a lower cost.”
Ahmad Mohamed Abu Eideh, CEO at Invest Bank
We partnered successfully with
Systems Limited is a global technology public limited company founded in 1977 with the mission to offer holistic transformations to its clients.
Accelerating the pace of Innovation and growth through Next-Generation Core Banking System
Manama, Bahrain
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.
We realized that moving to a cloud-based core banking solution would offer multiple advantages. First, it would mean a lower cost of ownership. More than this, a cloud platform would mean that we relied less on internal resources to manage and maintain infrastructure and applications. In addition, we felt the scalability of cloud would facilitate expansion into new markets and faster launch of new products.”
Spokesperson at the bank
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.
Temenos ensured that we achieved a smooth transition to the cloud. We knew that setting up some of our workloads, such as close of business processes, would be tricky to configure. Temenos provided the expert resources to tackle the challenges and ensure that we were operational very quickly.”
Spokesperson at the bank
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.
We’ve been so impressed with the scalability and flexibility of Temenos core banking and the Temenos banking cloud. We can quickly and easily add new modules and leverage different services to ensure we deliver value to our customers and continue to improve our satisfaction scores.”
Spokesperson at the bank
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.”
Working with Temenos puts us in a great position to take advantage of new opportunities, whether it’s in digital banking, wealth management, or project finance for local businesses. We believe that our partnership with Temenos will be a key enabler of our future expansion, bringing innovative financial services to the people of the Caribbean. With Temenos, we can turn our ambitions into reality.”
Spokesperson at the bank
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.
Accelerating the pace of Innovation and growth through Next-Generation Core Banking System
Manama, Bahrain
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 neutralstatus 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.
Another ESG consideration is that customers and investors often now want to make an ethical decision when choosing their financial provider. By providing transparency on our emissions, we can satisfy their concerns and establish ourselves as a sustainability leader in the Canadian market.”
Spokesperson at the Bank
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.
With the help of Temenos and Microsoft, we have calculated our full greenhouse gas emissions and increased our disclosure to the market. In 2021, we became the first Canadian Schedule I bank to measure and disclose our entire Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. We also achieved carbon neutrality for our Scope 1 and 2 emissions—proving that we are setting the agenda for sustainable banking disclosure in the sector.”
Spokesperson at the Bank
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 are very proud of how far we have come in our sustainability journey in the past few years, and our work with Temenos and Microsoft has been a key part of our success. Using the Temenos banking cloud has been hugely helpful for understanding and reducing our carbon footprint, helping us to set the standard for responsible, low-carbon banking in Canada that others will hopefully follow.”
Spokesperson at the Bank
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Accelerating the pace of Innovation and growth through Next-Generation Core Banking System
Manama, Bahrain
At a Glance
• 50% decrease in Turnaround Time (TAT) in just a couple of weeks to allow shorter time-to-market for innovative banking services
• Became one of the fastest growing retail banks in Egypt
• Nurturing the next generation of Egyptian banking talent with Temenos Academy
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.
“When we looked for a new core platform, Temenos stood out as the most feature-rich and scalable option available. Just as important, we were impressed with Temenos as a company: they offered deep knowledge of the Egyptian financial sector, combined with extensive global experience helping leading banks to succeed. Deciding to continue the partnership has been an easy choice, as their vision and roadmap for modern digital banking solutions aligns perfectly with our own objectives.”
Moustafa Marzouk, Chief Information Officer at saib
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.
“Consumers expect more than ever from their banks, but with Temenos we can adapt quickly and make sure we bring smarter, more tailored services to market. This helps to position saib as one of the most forward-thinking and fastest growing banks in Egypt, and will ensure that we attract more and more customers”
Moustafa Marzouk, Chief Information Officer at saib
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.
“We have great trust and confidence in Temenos as a partner. Over 20 years, they have always delivered for us, whether it has been their vision and expertise or their world-class banking technologies. With the support of Temenos, we have become a more agile, competitive, and innovative financial institution, and we are leading the way in the digital transformation of the Egyptian banking sector.”
Moustafa Marzouk, Chief Information Officer at saib
Accelerating the pace of Innovation and growth through Next-Generation Core Banking System
Manama, Bahrain
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 are constantly looking to innovate and improve to stay ahead of the times and our customers’ needs. With disruptive technologies, the pace of change is faster than ever, and a legacy core was holding us back. Partnering with Temenos and IBM, we can transition to a modern technology platform that will enable us to quickly build customized digital financial products and maximize shareholders’ value through agile and flexible operations. The new platform will drive scalable efficiency and ensure SCSB is poised to seize new opportunities in a rapidly changing world.”
Alex Lin, President at Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank
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.
IBM helps financial services organizations drive smarter, profitable growth, balance costs with agility, and improve their risk management and industry differentiation.
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