Virgin Money Australia

Launches the digital bank of the future

Queensland, Australia

As part of its digital transformation program, Bank of Queensland unveiled a technology strategy that will drive differentiated customer experiences and sustainable growth through its subsidiary, Virgin Mobile Australia.

Virgin Group Founder, Sir Richard Branson comments: “Virgin Money Australia has an ambition to challenge the status quo in the financial services industry. The new Virgin Money Australia digital bank is the antithesis of a traditional bank: it embraces simplicity and rejects the notion of financial complexity. At the core of the Virgin DNA is a challenger spirit, which brings competition to every industry we enter. I am so proud of the Virgin Money Australia team for living and breathing our DNA when designing and building the new digital bank, and keeping the customer at the heart of their decision-making.”

The new Digital Bank will deliver a truly differentiated and exciting Virgin experience. Importantly, Virgin Money Australia is uniquely positioned to build on our existing relationships with more than 200,000 loyal customers and a home loan portfolio that has quickly grown to more than $3 billion to effectively compete in the Australian market with challenger and incumbent banks alike.”

Greg Boyle, Group Executive, Retail Banking, at BOQ Group

Virgin Money Australia leverages Temenos’ front-to-back offering with Temenos core banking, the next generation in core banking and Temenos digital banking, the leading omnichannel digital banking product, on the Temenos Banking Cloud. Accessing the solution through a subscription model, Virgin Money Australia will be able to scale usage based on its business growth.

The new Digital Bank has gone live on Temenos modern cloud-based core banking platform, which provides a frictionless and fully integrated digital experience, bringing together credit cards, transaction and savings accounts, plus a loyalty program in a single, native mobile app. Through the modern app, consumers can open an account in minutes.

Region

Asia Pacific

Solutions

Cloud & SaaS
Core Banking
Digital Front Office
Financial Crime Mitigation
Payments

Sector

Challenger Banks
Retail Banking

Virgin Money Australia

Launches the digital bank of the future

Queensland, Australia

Nuestra Caja launched more than two decades ago with a crystal-clear goal: to deliver financial services to low-income citizens who struggle to access the resources needed to achieve economic security. In short, the cooperative (caja) aims to drive financial inclusion within Mexico and to improve the lives of its customers and their families.

In Mexico, cajas populares play a similar role to member-owned financial cooperative (caja) societies in the United States and Europe. Despite successful initiatives run by the Bank of Mexico, research from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reveals there are still millions of people in Mexico without regular access to basic financial services. This is especially true for female citizens and those living in the south-eastern states, which is precisely where Nuestra Caja operates.

Moises Cruz Matias, President of the Board of Directors at Nuestra Caja, explains: “To succeed, we need to reach those sections of society that have been overlooked and underserved by the major banks. That means offering a service proposition that appeals to the likes of small traders, seasonal workers in rural areas, and female citizens, who favor flexible credit agreements and repayment terms.”

Making a fresh start

For Nuestra Caja, the priority is to offer high-quality, user-friendly credit, lending, savings and investment products that align with the aspirations of their target customers. The inevitable challenge is how to marry this focus on innovation with cost-efficiency to ensure that the cooperative (caja) stays competitive commercially.

As it expanded its customer base, Nuestra Caja encountered a familiar problem for financial institutions. The core systems that support its corporate and branch operations were becoming increasingly difficult to scale, manage and maintain. Nuestra Caja decided the time was right to make a clean break and implement a more advanced core platform.

“We realized that continuing with our aging systems would make it harder and harder to achieve our goals,” says Moises Cruz Matias. “We struggled to add new functionality to help us extend our offering, increase efficiency, and create a more compelling in-branch experience. To continue our growth, we looked to modernize using the latest technology.”

Pinpointing the right partner

Nuestra Caja engaged a specialist IT consultancy to provide guidance on the best core solutions available and a series of assessment benchmarks. The cooperative (caja)’s key criteria for the new solution included first-rate reliability and scalability, a clear upgrade plan to ensure access to the latest core functionality, and the availability of expert technical support to assist its development teams. Having analyzed the market, Nuestra Caja identified a standout candidate to replace its distributed legacy systems: Temenos Transact (R22). The cooperative (caja) implemented the Temenos platform across its network of 50 branches and at its corporate offices—providing capabilities for streamlined management of lending activities, greater control of credit risk, flexible product design, and standardized branch teller operations. And for the first time, the cooperative (caja) can now monitor credit risk and view account balances in real time.

Reaping the benefits

Since the initial go-live, Nuestra Caja has seen exceptional results. Take product development, for example. Previously, the cooperative (caja)’s outdated legacy applications hampered development efforts and time to market for new services. The Temenos platform simplified and accelerated this process, providing a set of flexible components that Nuestra Caja uses to create unique lending and savings products tailored to appeal to target customer groups.

“Today, we can bring a new product to market within one week, which represents a huge improvement. With Temenos Transact, we can continually evolve and refine our services, ensuring that we offer the most compelling proposition to potential customers. In fact, since we implemented the Temenos platform, we have doubled our overall customer base and seen our lending business expand by 30 percent, establishing us as a key service provider in the region.”

Moises Cruz Matias, President of the Board of Directors at Nuestra Caja

Beyond these high-level business benefits, Nuestra Caja can also rest assured that it has a robust core platform in place that will keep its operations running round-the-clock without the risk of disruption. What’s more, the Temenos solution provides a clear upgrade path, ensuring the cooperative (caja) can continue to enhance the capabilities of the core platform. And by standardizing operations on a single, proven platform, Nuestra Caja eliminated the cost and effort of maintaining multiple legacy systems.

Fostering collaboration and knowledge transfer

Working with Temenos also yields another valuable outcome for Nuestra Caja: an annual invite to the Temenos Community Forum. The cooperative (caja) takes advantage of this opportunity to meet with leading players from the financial services world, explore the latest new software functionality and best practices, and discover how other clients are making the most of their investments in Temenos technologies.

Moises Cruz Matias continues: “As a relatively small player in the financial services industry, the chance to gain insights from the global leaders is really valuable to our ongoing growth strategy. Add to this that our internal development teams can access first-rate technical assistance and thought leadership from Temenos experts at any time to support our own innovation projects.”

As it stands today, Nuestra Caja has built a base of more than 101,000 customers, 93 percent of which are women.

“Our partnership with Temenos has been integral to our success in bringing financial services to more and more low-income Mexicans. We would recommend Temenos to any other cooperative (caja) or bank considering how to transform their core systems today. You can feel confident in the expertise of their consultants and the quality of their solutions—you will not regret your decision.”

Moises Cruz Matias, President of the Board of Directors at Nuestra Caja

Region

Latin America

Solutions

Core Banking

Sector

Inclusive & Community Banking
Retail Banking

Virgin Money Australia

Launches the digital bank of the future

Queensland, Australia

At a Glance

● 80% target of transactions conducted outside the branch office is already close to being achieved

● Regular customer feedback and suggestions are met with continuous updates and innovations

● Rapid adoption of its digital banking app, coupled with high levels of satisfaction

When Morocco’s CFG Bank obtained its commercial license in 2012, freeing it to evolve from an investment bank into a retail commercial bank, the transition didn’t just accelerate CFG Bank’s digital transformation; it spurred the bank to push the envelope. “In order to succeed, we had to be unique,” said Driss Benchafai, General Manager and one of the bank’s three co-CEOs. “We couldn’t do or offer the same thing, otherwise we weren’t going to have any clients.”

CFG Bank’s leaders knew that many Moroccan consumers wanted more of the digital banking experience and capabilities that have become prevalent around the world. In an attempt to satisfy these “demanding” clients, CFG Bank has adopted a technology-centric three-pillar strategy built on simplicity, transparency, and sustainable customer relationships. But CFG Bank couldn’t make this happen without a mobile technology platform that could help it excel on the digital front.

CFG Bank’s search led the bank to Kony, now part of Temenos, and CIO Zouhair Boulmane recalls that it was immediately clear that CFG Bank had found a platform with all the qualities it was looking for, beginning with an open architecture. The platform they chose is now part of Temenos digital banking. “We didn’t want to run the risk of choosing a platform that might restrict us, and we wanted to be able to develop something different every day,” he said.

Giving Customers What They Want

Less than a year later, CFG Bank launched a pilot app designed to offer its “demanding” customers an array of autonomous capabilities they desired. Customers can use the app to conduct typical banking transactions, activate or deactivate a credit card, or instantly modify credit card limits. More recently, CFG Bank added a personal financial management tool designed to help customers budget their spending more effectively. This all-in approach to its digital banking app has enabled CFG Bank to effectively retrain its customers to come into the branch only when making big financial decisions.

The objective is to have our clients conduct 80 percent of their transactions outside of the branch office.”

Driss Benchafai, General Manager at CFG Bank

That objective has matched up well with Moroccans’ clear desire for autonomy. CFG Bank has seen brisk adoption of its digital banking app, coupled with high levels of satisfaction, a year after the app’s introduction. The bank has further stoked that adoption by ensuring that when a new client comes into a branch to open an account, he or she doesn’t leave without downloading the app. “We cannot imagine one of our clients not using our digital banking app today,” said Benchafai. “It would be like saying that a client doesn’t have a debit card.”

Work in Progress

The initial success of the app certainly hasn’t caused CFG Bank to rest on its laurels; in fact, quite the opposite. Utilizing the Temenos digital banking Retail Banking app has opened CFG Bank to a new level of flexibility and a whole world of ideas as the bank’s leaders often look to what other clients around the globe are doing to get the most out of the technology. CFG Bank also gets plenty of motivation from its customers, whose eagerness to do new things with the app pushes the bank to constantly innovate.

Clients call their account managers to ask about the app—what’s new, what new functionalities are being added, Being responsive allows us to deliver quickly and to be in continuous improvement.”

Driss Benchafai, General Manager at CFG Bank

With its mobile channel firmly established, CFG Bank is looking to a future in which additional cutting-edge technologies add even more value to the customer experience. For example, Moulhim Aouad, Retail Executive Director, prepares for artificial intelligence to be paired with data analytics and consumer behavior analysis. “The goal is not to robotize the customer experience, but rather to be able to predict and assist in decision-making for both the client and bank,” said Aouad.

Just the Beginning

For now, CFG Bank is confident that it has put itself on the cutting edge of what mobile banking customers expect. Make no mistake, those expectations are higher than ever, and CFG Bank is fortunate to have leaders who understand just how important digital innovation is to the bank’s ongoing success, as well as an app that enables them to capitalize on that understanding.

Going digital is no longer an option; it is a non-negotiable requirement for today’s client, I think we are only at the beginning of the adventure. Digital has a big future ahead of it.”

Zouhair Boulmane, CIO at CFG Bank

Region

Middle East & Africa

Solutions

Digital Front Office

Sector

Retail Banking

Virgin Money Australia

Launches the digital bank of the future

Queensland, Australia

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.

Launching Saven allows us to have a greater reach to new digitally-focused members with a community-centric mission that shifts the perspective of what it means to be a financial institution. We’ve designed our digital brand to resonate with people who want anywhere / anytime banking. Our vision is to bring a no-nonsense, digital savings experience to those who want to achieve their financial goals through smart saving. To do that we needed to make our online platform easy to use, and enable our members to benefit from our competitive rates.”

Lloyd Smith, CEO at FirstOntario Credit Union

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.

As well as delivering on the foundational capabilities of security, performance and scalability, we wanted a core banking platform that would empower us to rapidly develop, test and deploy new services—and Temenos core banking delivered.”

Michael Walsh, Senior Vice president of Information technology at FirstOntario Credit Union

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.

One of the biggest benefits we see in working with Temenos is the many FinTech partners already positioned to integrate well with their banking platform. In many cases, Temenos already had the APIs we needed to integrate with strategic partners. When they didn’t, Temenos brought in the resources we needed to facilitate the integration.”

Michael Walsh, Senior Vice president of Information technology at FirstOntario Credit Union

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.”

Choosing Temenos core banking is a decision that defines the next decade or more.”

Tom Bijvoet, Chief Administration Officer at FirstOntario Credit Union

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.”

Region

North America

Solutions

Core Banking
Digital Front Office

Sector

Business Banking
Challenger Banks
Credit Unions & Community Banking
Retail Banking

Virgin Money Australia

Launches the digital bank of the future

Queensland, Australia

Formed in 2018, Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG) aims to foster financial inclusion and deliver simple, satisfying customer experiences. To realize its ambitious growth plans, the bank decided to implement Temenos core banking, migrating its previous disparate core systems onto a single instance of the cloud-native platform. With the Temenos solution in place, CBG has the capabilities it needs to create innovative new offerings for its one million customers and launch easy-to-access digital services that will boost accessibility to financial services in Ghana. The advanced core functionality will also enable the bank to streamline internal processes, reduce operating costs, and scale seamlessly to support its growth plans.

Together with Temenos we can deliver on our vision to become the bank of choice in Ghana, providing a simple, secure and differentiated banking experience to our customers.”

Daniel Addo, Chief Executive Officer at Consolidated Bank Ghana

Region

Middle East & Africa

Solutions

Core Banking

Sector

Business Banking
Corporate & Commercial Banking
Retail Banking

Virgin Money Australia

Launches the digital bank of the future

Queensland, Australia

Openbank, the digital online bank of the Santander Group, has more than 1 million customers worldwide and is considered Europe’s largest digital bank. To drive domestic and international expansion and to support the group’s digital strategy, Openbank chose Temenos core banking, the next generation in core banking, to help power its operations for retail and SME banking across its global operations. Temenos Wealth Front Office was added and integrated with Temenos core banking to enhance the overall digital customer experience. By adopting Temenos’ packaged and extensible software Openbank will be able to gain a deeper understanding of their customers’ needs and be fastest to market with new personalized products and services at a very low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

Temenos software allows the bank to launch products in cycles that are probably 10x faster than before. We are working together with Temenos as partners to transform our business digitally from bottom up.

Spokesperson at the bank

Region

Europe

Solutions

Cloud & SaaS
Core Banking
Financial Crime Mitigation
Payments

Sector

Business Banking
Challenger Banks
Retail Banking
Wealth Management

Virgin Money Australia

Launches the digital bank of the future

Queensland, Australia

At a Glance

● Increases the speed of cash flows

● Saving a lot of time and heartburn by bringing lots of efficiency to its calling campaigns

● Ability to have instant access to all of its client’s accounts

Johnson Bank’s collection platforms and service of record did not communicate with each other. Because the out-of-the-box solution the bank was using could not be customized, Johnson’s team had to track loss mitigation, foreclosure, and bankruptcy using spreadsheets. With no real-time refresh option, payments would not appear in the collections environment, and the team had to complete eight steps before they could make a phone call. With $4.7 billion in assets, Johnson needed a better solution to serve its customers. Several factors that led to Johnson selecting Temenos were the configurability of the platform, the workflow capabilities, and the number of satisfied Temenos customers who were already using the product. “Many other software vendors were just getting into the workflow process or they just did foreclosure and bankruptcy but not collections,” says Louis Burg, VP of the Consumer Assets Group and Mortgage Quality Assurance at Johnson Bank. “Nobody did everything well.”

The thing that drew us to Temenos was that it was, at its heart, a core collections system, which we desperately needed. And we could configure different workflows to fit our bank’s existing process.”

Louis Burg, VP Consumer Special Assets Group and Mortgage Quality Assurance at Johnson Bank

Creating High-Impact Efficiency

Johnson used the Temenos Collection module to streamline its processes. “Six clicks and it’s to the printer,” says Christine Pfeiffer, who focuses on loss mitigation in Johnson’s Consumer Special Assets Group. “The workflows take my team through the process. We’ve built it so it’s procedural-based. No more need for checklists and no more second-guessing yourself.”

Burg says Johnson was able to create an expected payment model for collections, which the team uses to set up their queues for each day. “The Temenos software allowed us to import that file and use the values in it to set up day queues on an automated basis,” he says. “That saved us a lot of time and heartburn, and it brought a lot of efficiency to our calling campaigns.”

Pfieffer says her team has eliminated all of the pre-call work they used to do, like visiting several spreadsheets or other manually updated documents. “It’s all holistically in one place for us to see,” she says. “The biggest piece is the ability to see every account a client has with us at a glance, right on the screen. You pull them up, and it’s all there. There’s no toggling between accounts or going to another service of record platform to try to find more information. Anybody can go in, pull up a customer, and it’s all right there. That has been a huge asset.”

Another added benefit is that a backup employee who isn’t familiar with the process can jump in at any point in time. Pfieffer says it has been a phenomenal tool for cross-training and keeping her team in sync with each other.

Burg says the efficiency of the system has enabled Johnson’s team to touch customers earlier in the default cycle, which has enabled the bank to increase the speed of cash flows. “It’s helped us prioritize our accounts for calling,” Pfieffer says.

We have a greater impact on touching the accounts that we need to reach exactly when we need to reach them. The real-time refresh moves things quicker, so we’re not making a call unnecessarily because we just got the payment an hour ago.”

Christine Pfeiffer, VP Consumer SAG, MTG Servicing, Investor Accounting Manager at Johnson Bank

Pfieffer says the Temenos collection even made a recent Freddie Mac audit easier. “I was able to take them through the processes in Temenos,” she says. “It’s built in a way where it’s just all laid out right there for them. So the audit went phenomenally—Freddie Mac loved it!”

Smooth Implementation

Burg says the Temenos Collection was the easiest implementation Johnson Bank has ever had. Burg attributes this success to the Temenos support and implementation teams. “They were really good resources, and they were dedicated to helping us succeed,” Burg says.

For a new system coming in house, it went so smoothly. We kept finding things right with the software instead of things wrong with it. Temenos’ support and implementation teams were dedicated to helping us succeed. It wasn’t just a job for them. It was passion. We really knocked it out of the park when it came to this implementation.”

Louis Burg, VP Consumer Special Assets Group and Mortgage Quality Assurance at Johnson Bank

Region

North America

Solutions

Collections
Digital Front Office

Sector

Retail Banking

Virgin Money Australia

Launches the digital bank of the future

Queensland, Australia

Canandaigua National Bank and Trust Company, headquartered in Canandaigua, New York needed to switch to an automated collection software that would create more efficiency but still be user-friendly. With $2.09 billion in assets and more than 208,000 account holders, they were looking for a system that had an easy learning curve and already contained many components, such as reports, views, and more.

Process Improvements

Canandaigua National Bank and Trust Company chose Temenos digital banking Collection to drive success at their 27 branches and bring their motto “We live, work, and play here” to life while contributing to their small community feel. The collection module was able to provide Canandaigua National Bank and Trust with improved efficiency and ease of learning while remaining very user-friendly. It was able to fit Canandaigua’s needs with built-in components such as reports, views, dashboards, and more, all of which they required in their search for a new system.

Endless reports can be created for upper management, and different information can be pulled together that would otherwise take time to create manually.”

Ann Lyon, Resource Recovery Supervisor at Canandaigua National Bank and Trust

Quality Results

By implementing Temenos digital banking, Canandaigua National Bank and Trust noticed an increase in efficiency and were able to utilize better tracking mechanisms. With this, they also noticed improved management capabilities due to the reports that were now available to them. Canandaigua is now able to penetrate a larger number of customers per day because of their switch to Temenos.

Ann Lyon recommends that other financial institutions switch to Temenos if they plan to grow. By implementing an automated system, they are setting themselves up for success by preparing for future growth. She has seen that the system does many previously manual processes automatically, which in turn has increased efficiency. There are also features within the Collection module, such as notes, that can be entered into the workflow process so that if you hire new employees, the system will virtually walk them through what they need to do.

Region

North America

Solutions

Collections
Digital Front Office

Sector

Retail Banking

Virgin Money Australia

Launches the digital bank of the future

Queensland, Australia

At a Glance

● Improve data accuracy by 25% and lift staff productivity by eliminating manual workflows

● Increases customer volume by more than 11%, from 15,000 to 17,000

● 25% growth in daily transaction volumes

Seychelles Credit Union (SCU) stands apart as the only member-owned savings and credit cooperative that operates in Seychelles. While local commercial banks focus on developing an extensive range of retail and corporate services, SCU prioritizes people above profits, aiming to promote financial literacy and prosperity among citizens with highly competitive loans and savings products.

Recent years have seen big changes in the local market: new legal and regulatory frameworks and the emergence of a younger generation eager to consume banking services via digital channels have created new pressures and opportunities for banks in Seychelles. Keen to stay ahead of the curve, SCU considered how it could continue to deliver a high-quality experience that not only meets but exceeds the expectations of its members.

The introduction of new regulations by the Central Bank of Seychelles spurred SCU into action. To comply with the new rules, the credit union would require a comprehensive refresh of its core banking systems. But SCU also spotted the chance to turn this do-or-die moment to its advantage and aimed to seize the opportunity to transform many of its legacy processes. To execute the plan, it looked for a strategic partner.

Looming Deadlines

In 2016, the Central Bank of Seychelles issued a directive that required all banks and credit unions to integrate with the new national payments platform, the Seychelles Electronic Funds Transfer (SEFT) system. SCU quickly realized that it would be very difficult to integrate its existing core banking solutions with the platform supporting the new electronic funds transfer system.

A spokesperson at the bank, explains: “This was a huge moment for us. We faced an ultimatum from the Central Bank that meant we had to bring our systems into line with SEFT by a specific deadline. We took decisive action and targeted a root-and-branch replacement of our core systems with a modern, agile core platform that would deliver regulatory compliance.”

Embracing a New Digital Era

In addition, SCU wanted to deploy a solution that would accelerate many internal workflows, replacing time-consuming manual work with fully digital operations. The previous core banking system also lacked key functionality, including ATM compatibility, and comprehensive governance structures such as audit trails. With the new platform, SCU looked to implement enhanced access controls and international best practices.

A spokesperson at the bank continues: “We saw this as the perfect moment to bring SCU into the digital age. Although we still have many consumers keen to use cash deposits, the younger generation is looking to manage their money via mobile or online. As we kicked off the search for a new core platform, we wanted to find advanced digital functionality that would solve our operational issues and help us to serve different customer segments.”

Finding Just the Right Fit

Following an extensive intelligence-gathering exercise, SCU selected Temenos Inclusive Banking Suite as its new core platform. The solution provides SCU with access to the Temenos core banking solution in a configuration specifically designed for credit unions and microfinance institutions rather than large-scale commercial banks.

During the research process, SCU consulted with a local bank in Seychelles that utilizes Temenos core banking, as well as the CEOs of several other financial institutions that rely on Temenos core banking tools. The credit union also approached the service provider responsible for hosting SEFT for the Central Bank of Seychelles to check on the level of integration between Temenos and the electronic payments system.

All of the feedback about Temenos that we received was excellent. The service provider confirmed in writing that Temenos core banking was the best fit to integrate with SEFT, while the CEOs assured us that their deployments had been quick and simple. Combined with our own research and assurances from Temenos about the digital functionality they could provide, it was clear we were on the right track.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Implementing in Record Time

In the final stage of the decision process, SCU was concerned that such a large-scale transformation project could not be completed within the deadlines stipulated by the Central Bank. Temenos and a business partner pulled out all the stops to ensure a rapid implementation, and managed to complete the data migration and integration with the national payments system within just 90 days.

A spokesperson at the bank elaborates: “The implementation was a huge success, and we later learned this was the fastest deployment that Temenos has ever achieved for the core banking platform. Even when we requested modifications to some of the modules, Temenos was ready to help. Throughout the process, they were checking in on our progress and making sure everything was going according to our schedule.”

The implementation was a huge success, and we later learned this was the fastest deployment that Temenos has ever achieved for the core banking platform. Even when we requested modifications to some of the modules, Temenos were ready to help. Throughout the process, they were checking in on our progress and making sure everything was going according to our schedule.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Unleashing New Efficiencies

With the Temenos platform in place, SCU achieved its regulatory compliance goals and established more robust governance structures. The solution enables the credit union to implement stricter access controls on who can enter and manipulate data and transaction records. And by replacing manual steps with straight-through-processing and digitalized workflows, SCU accelerated many key operational processes.

For example, SCU automated the production of daily performance reports, which would previously take many hours to create manually using Excel spreadsheets and copying and pasting data between applications. The credit union can now gain deeper insights and track key performance indicators such as daily income statements at a more granular level.

With the Temenos platform, we have daily reports ready much faster, and we can dig down to analyse our performance by region, demographic groups, and individual products. Our teams can take that data and identify clients or customer groups who could be interested in supplementary services, or spot areas where we need to refine our value proposition.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Getting Data Right the First Time

Replacing manual workflows has also helped SCU to significantly improve data accuracy. Previously, when staff had to enter data into the core systems by hand, there was a high risk of error, leading SCU to dedicate extra resources to double-checking transaction records. Now, the credit union’s audit department estimate data accuracy has improved by 25 percent, freeing staff who were formerly tied up with lower-value work.

A spokesperson at the bank adds: “Since implementing the Temenos platform, our IT costs have significantly decreased as a proportion of our incomes. With our previous core banking systems, we were locked into an agreement that forced us to purchase licenses per workstation rather than per user. Temenos offers a much greater degree of flexibility in our licensing agreements, which better suits the way that we work.”

Building on Customer Appeal

Using the Temenos solution, SCU increased the number of transactions it can handle each day by 25 percent, without having to increase staff numbers. The high level of automation and straight-through-processing provided by the platform means SCU can process requests for transfers and withdrawals much faster, ensuring that customers receive a superior experience when managing their money.

The enhanced service that we can now offer has helped us to attract many new customers. In 2017, when we implemented the Temenos solution, we had around 15,000 customers. Today we have grown to serve around 17,000—a rise of more than 11 percent, which we can accommodate easily thanks to the speed and scalability of the Temenos platform.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Reaching New Customer Groups

SCU is continuously looking to optimize its core banking environment and is currently upgrading its R14 of Temenos core banking to the latest R18 iteration. Alongside this, the credit union is exploring the potential of Temenos digital banking to provide online and mobile banking, which could help it sharpen its competitive edge by capturing business from among the millennial customer bracket.

A spokesperson at the bank concludes: “Working with Temenos has been exceptional—in fact, our experience with them stands as one of the best we have had with any of our strategic partners or vendors. Temenos understood our problem, provided a solution, helped us deploy in rapid time, and have gone above and beyond what we normally expect and receive from vendors. We look forward to taking the next steps of our journey with them.”

Region

Middle East & Africa

Solutions

Core Banking
Digital Front Office

Sector

Credit Unions & Community Banking
Retail Banking

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At A Glance

Smartphone penetration in Saudi Arabia stands at 88%, almost double the global average
Ability to launch new locations in just 4 to 6 months with the Temenos solution
‘Best Islamic Bank in Saudi Arabia’ in 2014

How can it continue to set the standard for high-quality service with so many nimble new players entering the market? For Al Rajhi Bank, it is a case of continuing to observe its time-honored formula of combining innovation with deep-rooted Islamic values and Sharia-compliant practices.

Since its foundation in 1957, these principles have helped the Saudi Arabian market leader to build combined assets of $90 billion and a customer base of 18 million. Along the way, Al Rajhi Bank has earned international recognition from prestigious publications such as The Asian Banker, as well as being named ‘Best Islamic Bank in Saudi Arabia’ in 2014 by Euromoney.

In early 2018, Al Rajhi Bank began investigating breakthrough technologies like Blockchain and was poised to introduce fingerprint identification and electronic signatures. But it also came to realize that it faced a similar challenge to many banks around the world: aging core infrastructure that threatened to restrict future product innovation.

Overcoming Limitations

In the Saudi banking sector, time to market has traditionally been a major differentiator between the leading operators and those lower down the ranks. To develop, launch and manage its offerings, Al Rajhi Bank relied on legacy systems that had been in place since 1998. While well-suited for the marketplace of that time, the bank realized that continuing with this strategy threatened to limit agility.

A spokesperson at the bank, explains: “We operate in a crowded market, where many banks offer similar services and look to seize first-mover advantage to get ahead. With our legacy systems, we had to perform increasing amounts of time-consuming development work to bring new services to market or adapt to changing regulations, increasing our risk of falling behind.”

Embracing the Digital Revolution

Customer preferences have changed dramatically in recent times in the Middle East, with a steep increase in the uptake of digital banking. Research firm McKinsey discovered that 80% of consumers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates prefer to bank online, and half would happily open an account with a digital-only bank. Smartphone penetration in Saudi Arabia also stands at 88%, almost double the global average.

Small digital-only banks and fintechs are already entering the Saudi market with next-generation services, determined to win customers. For established players, the pressure is on to provide engaging digital services to protect hard-won market share. Al Rajhi Bank developed a successful digital presence but wanted to continue evolving its online and mobile services.

A spokesperson at the bank adds: “The majority of our customer transactions are now completed through our digital channels. This makes it vitally important that we continue to enhance the user experience and deliver more innovative, intuitive products. Trying to achieve this by adapting and re-configuring our legacy systems was leading to unsustainable levels of complexity.”

Identifying a Vendor with Strong Islamic Credentials

To continue to thrive in this new banking landscape, Al Rajhi Bank launched a project to transform its core banking platform, issuing a request for proposals to leading international software vendors in mid-2018. After narrowing the search down to a shortlist of four candidates, the bank decided to deploy Temenos Islamic Banking, which provides Sharia-compliant core and digital banking features.

Of all solutions we considered, Temenos offered the most comprehensive set of Islamic finance capabilities. We also noticed that many other leading banks in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates run Temenos, which gave us a great confidence that Temenos Could support us with expert resources in our region.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Accelerating Product Development

Working with Temenos, Al Rajhi Bank kicked off the first phase of the implementation process in January 2019. When the platform is fully deployed, the bank will benefit from increased automation, an agile development framework that enables it to bring products to market faster than ever, and the ability to enhance its digital services and respond to changing customer requirements.

We’re excited about uncovering the full value of the Temenos solutions. One of the most impressive things about working with Temenos is the emphasis they place on research and development, delivering new software releases every year. We now have the most up-to-date, cutting-edge banking solutions on the market in our hands, and this won’t change.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Simplifying Expansion

With the Temenos solution in place, Al Rajhi Bank can facilitate the launch of operations in locations beyond the borders of Saudi Arabia. Over the last 15 years, the bank has established 18 branches in Malaysia, seven in Jordan as well as a presence in Kuwait. Temenos Islamic Banking ensures that Al Rajhi Bank can continue this expansion at speed.

A spokesperson at the bank continues: “Building an international presence is a strategic goal for us, but brings challenges in terms of local Sharia customs and other banking regulations. With the Temenos solution providing pre-configured compliance features along with the ability to adapt our existing service offerings in line with local rules, we believe that we can launch new locations in just 4 to 6 months—a tremendous result.”

He concludes: “Today’s fast-moving market presents many challenges, but with Temenos on our side, we are well-placed to win new customers and maintain our hard-won position as a leader. The Temenos solutions will ensure we continue our long and successful history, and continue to deliver a first-class service that meets the needs of modern consumers while staying true to Islamic principles.”

Temenos digital banking platform will enable us to transform faster, drive out complexity and lower our overall total cost of ownership. Temenos has a worldwide reputation for robust, innovative banking software and an extensive presence and commitment in Saudi Arabia. With Temenos we will be able to introduce new and innovative products more quickly and help reduce operational costs, as well as offer a cutting-edge digital experiences to our customers.”

Mr. Waleed Al Mogbel, DCEO at Al Rajhi

Region

Middle East & Africa

Solutions

Core Banking

Sector

Business Banking
Corporate & Commercial Banking
Islamic Banking
Retail Banking

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