Challenger

End-to-end digital transformation to provide seamless customer experiences

Melbourne, Australia

Heartland Bank – Success Story

At a glance

• Onboard customers in 5 minutes instead of 60 minutes

• Straight-through processing for 95% of onboarding processes

92% faster to compile loan documentation

Reduce the cost of customer acquisition and servicing

• Provide great digital customer experiences

• Built a new front-to back solution on the Temenos banking cloud

 

Recently, Challenger, an Australian investment management firm, acquired MyLife MyFinance. In an Australian market dominated by the “Big Four” banks, MyLife MyFinance aims to offer a genuine alternative to the leading players. Headquartered in Melbourne, the bank promises customers fair, ethical, and simple savings and lending products and services, which help them to build a brighter and more prosperous future. MyLife MyFinance, innovation means finding ways to deliver new value to those customers.

Mark Sawyer, General Manager at MyLife MyFinance, explains: “We consider ourselves a niche bank, targeting consumers looking for a transparent, low-fee service. Although we are not aiming to compete directly with the giant retail banks, we want to create a compelling and market-relevant value proposition that compares favorably with their offerings and ensures that we serve our customers well.”

As part of this strategy, MyLife MyFinance looked to design a more engaging, frictionless digital experience. For example, the bank wanted to accelerate onboarding processes that previously consisted of many time-consuming, manual steps. MyLife MyFinance also aimed to introduce self-service capabilities that would give customers greater flexibility in how they could manage their accounts and make payments.

Planning digital transformation

To develop and launch this enhanced customer journey, MyLife MyFinance realized that it would have to modernize its core and digital banking systems. Previously, the bank was using heterogeneous on-premise legacy technologies with limited functionality that restricted innovation and scalability. Using solutions from multiple vendors, MyLife MyFinance also wanted to address management workloads and operational risk.

Zvonko Balic, Chief Technology Officer at MyLife MyFinance, continues: “With our existing systems, the cost and complexity of customer onboarding and servicing was simply too high. Also, we saw that the solutions would make it difficult for us to adapt to changing regulations and hamper our ability to capitalize on emerging market opportunities.

Selecting a more agile model

To transform its technology stack, MyLife MyFinance decided to deploy Temenos front-to-back banking solutions on the Temenos banking cloud. The Temenos package combines Temenos core and digital banking, and Temenos Analytics and provides capabilities within a modern Open API-first architecture.

Mark Sawyer comments: “When assessing vendors, Temenos stood out for many reasons. First, the broad functionality of the solutions enable us to tailor our new customer journey. Also, the rich integration features allow us to connect to third-party solutions to enhance our services. Temenos also has a strong track record working with Australian and global banks, which inspires confidence that they will always deliver.”

The Temenos banking cloud also offered major advantages for MyLife MyFinance, as Zvonko Balic explains: “As a smaller, niche bank, we do not have the technology budget of the larger financial institutions. Adopting the cloud approach meant that we could focus resources on serving customers rather than managing infrastructure. Plus, we know that Temenos invests heavily in building cutting-edge new functionality, which allows us to roll out enhancements quickly and easily rather than having to perform development work ourselves.”

“Adopting the cloud approach meant that we could focus resources on serving customers rather than managing infrastructure”

Zvonko Balic, Chief Technology Officer at MyLife MyFinance

Deploying fast, despite the pandemic

To implement the solutions, MyLife MyFinance worked with Temenos and Temenos business partner LTIMindtree. Within 12 months, the project teams effectively built a whole new banking infrastructure from scratch in the cloud and completed the customer data migration. Travel restrictions within Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant that Temenos completed two-thirds of the implementation remotely.

During the deployment, Temenos helped MyLife MyFinance to integrate the core and digital solutions with a wide array of third-party services. These include solutions for debit cards and payments, document management, fraud monitoring, customer ID verification, and automated credit decisioning for consumer mortgage and lending products.

Being able to go live with such a diverse ecosystem of services in just 12 months was a great result. The disruption caused by the pandemic made this an especially challenging project, but Temenos provided the resources and expertise to ensure success. The engagement with their sales, account management, executive, and implementation teams has been very positive.”

Zvonko Balic, Chief Technology Officer at MyLife MyFinance

Accelerating processes by more than 90 percent

With the Temenos solutions, MyLife MyFinance strengthened its value proposition and enabled a slick, seamless customer journey that matches the offerings of larger operators. The bank now uses straight-through-processing (STP) for 95 percent of the onboarding process, which automates slow, inefficient manual workflows, reduces onboarding costs, and ensures that new customers enjoy a fast, engaging experience.

Mark Sawyer adds: “With our old systems, it would take between 24 and 48 hours to complete the customer acquisition cycle. Within that time, an employee would have to manually key in data and complete various checks on the customer. Now, due to the STP and integration capabilities of the Temenos platform, a customer can submit their application online and open an account within minutes.”
MyLife MyFinance customers also now enjoy self-service capabilities via their digital channel of choice. Users can log in to manage their deposits account and individual profile via mobile or internet banking, make payments using a digital wallet, activate and manage debit cards, and report lost or stolen cards.

Since the final consumer mortgage and lending solutions went live, MyLife MyFinance looks to accelerate the process for compiling loan contract documentation. Previously, it could take up to 60 minutes to draw together relevant documents from various source systems. With the integrated Temenos ecosystem, the bank expects to complete now the process in just 5 minutes—a 92 percent improvement.

Now, due to the STP and integration capabilities of the Temenos platform, a customer can submit their application online and open an account within minutes.”

Mark Sawyer, General Manager at MyLife MyFinance

Spearheading a new growth strategy

Recently, Challenger, an Australian investment management firm, acquired MyLife MyFinance. As a savings and loan bank, MyLife MyFinance will give Challenger the opportunity to expand its customer base and secure retirement income offerings. The bank is confident that the self-service capabilities, STP, and scalability of the Temenos solutions will enable it to manage higher volumes of customer applications successfully. MyLife MyFinance also believes that the Temenos deployment will enable it to embrace the opportunities created by Open Banking

Mark Sawyer concludes: “As we move into a new phase in our banking journey, we are sure that the partnership with Temenos will continue to contribute to our success, helping us to adapt to evolving regulations and market conditions. So far, it has been a very rewarding collaboration, and we are looking forward to the next chapter.”

We partnered successfully with

One-Stop Pure-Play Global Partner for all Temenos Solutions, System Integrations and Digital Services

Challenger

End-to-end digital transformation to provide seamless customer experiences

Melbourne, Australia

Heartland Bank – Success Story

One of the largest financial service providers in Morocco, Crédit du Maroc places innovation and digital transformation at the center of its growth strategy. To strengthen customer experiences and diversify its services, the bank will modernize its core and payments systems with Temenos core banking and Temenos Payments. Once implemented, the Temenos solutions will enable Crédit du Maroc to increase internal efficiency, launch new products faster, and offer customers frictionless, omnichannel access to accounts and cards. On the payments side, the solutions will allow Crédit du Maroc to manage rising transaction volumes, and adapt to new regulations and real-time payments schemes—helping it to win new clients and increase market share.

Temenos’ modern technology platform will not only help to drive incredible operational efficiency, but also enable the bank to accelerate time to market for new products. In a highly competitive market for financial services, Temenos gives us the edge and ensures we deliver the highest levels of customer satisfaction and attract new customers to drive growth.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Challenger

End-to-end digital transformation to provide seamless customer experiences

Melbourne, Australia

Heartland Bank – Success Story

With more than 40 million unbanked citizens, Egypt is an ideal market for digital banking services, which lower barriers to access. Suez Canal Bank, one of the country’s top 10 financial institutions, is embracing the opportunity. Using Temenos digital banking, the bank is transforming the end-to-end digital experience for customers from onboarding, through opening an account, to ongoing account servicing. Suez Canal Bank is also building on Temenos technology to develop smart banking solutions such as tailored insights and suggestions, generated by combining advanced analytics with AI capabilities. Working with Temenos, the bank is reducing time-to-market for new products, boosting front-office efficiency, and bring banking within reach of millions more Egyptians.

We are delighted to partner with Temenos to take our digital banking to the next level. Temenos is the market-leader in digital banking technology and has a strong local presence and record of success with banks in Egypt and the MEA region. Enabling and building engagement with our customers via digital channels is a key growth driver that will help Suez Canal Bank to attract a new generation of customers. This is a priority to support our growth plans but also as a boost to financial inclusion in Egypt.”

Hussein Refaie, Chairman and Managing Director at Suez Canal Bank

Challenger

End-to-end digital transformation to provide seamless customer experiences

Melbourne, Australia

Heartland Bank – Success Story

Jordan Ahli Bank (“Ahli Bank”) is one of the Kingdom’s leading financial institutions with a significant local presence. Ahli Bank has already been using Temenos as its core banking technology since 2016 and new online banking platform is expected to enable the bank expand its customer base in Jordan. Jordan Ahli Bank went live with Temenos to develop and deploy new online banking experiences, helping it differentiate and drive customer growth in Jordan. The Bank is taking a phased approach, initially focused on Temenos digital banking to transform the digital experience of its personal banking products, including deposit accounts, payments, credit cards and loans. In the next phase, the bank plans to deploy Temenos digital banking for its corporate banking operations.

In addition to its leading solutions and innovative model bank approach, Temenos has shown a deep understanding of the Jordanian and Middle East markets’ local requirements and how to fulfil these using its strong business and product configuration tools. We will work progressively with partners like Temenos to build a strong foundation for execution, based on productised solutions which incorporate the latest standards and best practices in the banking industry. This is a hugely significant program of transformation for Jordan Ahli Bank, and we believe Temenos is the partner to deliver us our vision.”

Spokesperson at the bank

Challenger

End-to-end digital transformation to provide seamless customer experiences

Melbourne, Australia

Heartland Bank – Success Story

Orange Bank Africa’s launch in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) region aims at supporting financial inclusion, while capitalizing on digital capabilities and increasing penetration of mobile tech. Orange Bank Africa is fully equipped to achieve reduced IT costs and operational complexity, as well as an improved cost/income ratio. The bank has developed a mobile-first banking strategy to deliver financial services to consumers’ phones supported by Temenos core banking delivered as SaaS, and its cloud-native technology, which is hosted on Microsoft Azure.

Temenos’ cutting-edge cloud technology, relentless focus on innovation and unrivalled regional experience makes it the perfect partner for Orange Bank Africa as we launch our operations. Temenos core banking gives us the scalability we need to grow and provide vital financial services to millions of customers.”

Patrick Roussel, Vice President, MEA Mobile Financial Services at Orange bank

Meanwhile, the Temenos Banking Cloud enables the bank to aim for sustainable, long-term growth and allows them to scale to meet the surge in digital banking adoption in Africa. Temenos’ Model Bank approach provided highly localized, pre-configured banking functionality so the new software could be deployed quickly, without the need for customization.

We partnered successfully with

Microsoft’s Financial Services group helps financial firms leverage technology to amplify the impact their people can deliver to drive business success. 

Challenger

End-to-end digital transformation to provide seamless customer experiences

Melbourne, Australia

Heartland Bank – Success Story

Digital-only Banco del Sol is targeting a top-three position in the Argentine retail banking market, followed by an expansion into the SME space that comprises 99 percent of the country’s businesses. To build a compelling service proposition, the bank worked with Temenos partner GlobalLogic to implement Temenos core banking, Temenos Financial Mitigation, and Temenos Data & Analytics — gaining integrated core banking, fraud detection, and reporting capabilities. The bank can now launch new services quickly, scale its operations seamlessly, and deliver a consistently high-quality client experience. With more consumers using online services than ever due to COVID-19, this innovative digital presence will help Banco del Sol to achieve its growth objectives.

We were impressed with Temenos’ proven experience and expertise with both established banks and digital start-ups. That expertise and the company’s relentless commitment to product innovation makes us confident that they will be able to provide the technology we need to meet the highest digital experience of consumers and small business owners across Argentina.”

Spokesperson at the bank

We partnered successfully with

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

Challenger

End-to-end digital transformation to provide seamless customer experiences

Melbourne, Australia

Heartland Bank – Success Story

KIB selected Temenos digital banking and Temenos core banking to replace its legacy IT systems and deploy a single, cloud-native, cloud-agnostic digital banking platform to underpin its banking operations. Temenos will provide KIB with a single, packaged and extensible banking platform to digitalize its end-to-end operations. Temenos’ award-winning Islamic Banking solution will support the delivery of innovative digital products that are compliant for KIB’s Islamic retail and corporate customers.

Established in 2010, KIB’s aim is to make financial services easily accessible across Yemen to support socio-economic development and raise the national standard of living. The bank plays an essential role in supporting the livelihoods of local businesses and individuals by providing access to vital financial products and services. By driving significant cost efficiencies, Temenos’ technology will enable KIB to offer more accessible and lower-cost financial services to the Yemeni population and promote financial inclusion.

Temenos differentiated itself from other vendors in its unique ability to combine core Islamic values with modern digital banking services. Temenos’ cloud-native technology will transform our operations by driving incredible efficiency gains, but most importantly, by helping to improve the standard of living for individuals and the prospects for businesses in Yemen.”

Yousif Alkuraimi, CEO at Alkuraimi Islamic Bank

Challenger

End-to-end digital transformation to provide seamless customer experiences

Melbourne, Australia

Heartland Bank – Success Story

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.

Challenger

End-to-end digital transformation to provide seamless customer experiences

Melbourne, Australia

Heartland Bank – Success Story

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

Challenger

End-to-end digital transformation to provide seamless customer experiences

Melbourne, Australia

Heartland Bank – Success Story

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.

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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