Orange Bank Africa Goes Live With Temenos SaaS

Temenos, the banking software company, today announced that Orange Bank Africa has gone live with cloud-native Temenos Transact delivered as SaaS. Temenos Transact core banking technology scales to support the bank to launch and drive financial inclusion in the African WAEMU region, starting with the Ivory Coast. Temenos’ cloud technology enables sustainable, long-term growth for Orange Bank Africa by reducing IT costs, operational complexity and delivering an improved cost/income ratio.

Temenos and its partner, MCB Consulting, worked closely with Orange Bank Africa to implement the solution remotely after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Temenos’ core banking technology is hosted on Microsoft Azure. Temenos’ SaaS technology and dedicated team support resulted in a seamless implementation within the original project timescales despite the global emergency. Temenos’ Model Bank approach provided highly localized, pre-configured banking functionality so the new software could be deployed quickly, without the need for customization.

Banking services penetration in West Africa is relatively low compared to mobile phone penetration, leaving significant room for expansion of mobile financial services. According to recent research from the Economist Intelligence Unit, the affordability of smartphones is driving the development of mobile-only and mobile-first initiatives, like Orange Bank Africa – this was cited as the top innovation strategy by 37% of MEA-based bank executives.

Orange Bank Africa’s mobile-first banking strategy was developed to deliver financial services to consumers’ phones. Temenos’ technology will allow Orange Bank Africa to continuously innovate and provide customers with much-needed access to savings accounts and micro-loans. The new technology drives process automation for these services in order to deliver vital funding to more people at a faster rate and promote financial inclusion.

Patrick Roussel, Vice President, MEA Mobile Financial Services at Orange, commented: “Our mission is to deliver banking services to those that don’t yet have access with an offer that differentiates us from the competition: simple, accessible and above all mobile-first banking. In order for us to achieve this goal in West Africa, we needed a strategic technology partner with rich experience deploying banking software in the cloud. 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 Transact gives us the scalability we need to grow and provide vital financial services to millions of customers.”

Jean-Michel Hilsenkopf, Chief Operating Officer, Temenos, said:“Across the globe, banks are moving to the cloud and achieving operational excellence that drives a higher banking performance. For Orange Bank Africa, the cloud is key for rapid market expansion and sustainable business growth. There is a growing need to provide people in West Africa with access to banking services and Orange Bank Africa will play a vital role in addressing this. Telcos like Orange are particularly well placed to offer differentiated banking services and enhanced customer experiences because of their established client base and mobile-centric capabilities. Temenos’ SaaS technology provides a powerful and flexible solution that will support Orange Bank Africa to continuously adapt to changes in the market and innovate quickly as customer demands evolve. We are excited to support the bank in delivering personalized mobile-banking services as they advance financial inclusion in West Africa.”