Temenos, the publisher of banking software, has announced that Orange Bank Africa has adopted the Temenos Transact software
Temenos Transact’s core banking technology is scaling up to help the bank launch and foster financial inclusion in the African UEMOA region, starting with Côte d’Ivoire. Temenos’ cloud technology enables Orange Bank Africa to achieve sustainable and long-term growth through reduced IT costs, operational complexity and better cost/revenue ratio.
Temenos and its partner, MCB Consulting, worked closely with Orange Bank Africa to implement the solution remotely after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Temenos core banking technology is hosted on Microsoft Azure.
The penetration of banking services in West Africa is relatively low compared to that of mobile phones, thus leaving a significant niche for the expansion of mobile financial services. According to a recent study by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the affordability of smartphones is driving the development of exclusively mobile initiatives and favouring this vector, as with Orange Bank Africa - cited as the main innovation strategy by 37 per cent of senior executives in banks based in the MEA region.
Orange Bank Africa’s strategy, which favours mobile banking, was developed to provide financial services on consumers’ mobile phones. Temenos’ technology will enable Orange Bank Africa to continuously innovate and provide its customers with essential access to savings accounts and microloans. New technology enables the automation of processes related to these services in order to deliver much-needed funding to more people more quickly and to promote financial inclusion.
Patrick Roussel, vice-president of finance at Orange for the MEA region, affirmed, “Temenos’ cutting-edge cloud computing technology, constant focus on innovation and unparalleled regional experience make them the ideal partner for Orange Bank Africa as we launch our operations. Temenos Transact gives us the scalability we need to grow and deliver critical financial services to millions of customers.”
Jean-Michel Hilsenkopf, COO at Temenos, said, “There is a growing need to provide people in West Africa with access to banking services, and Orange Bank Africa will play a major role in meeting it. Telecommunications operators like Orange are particularly well-positioned to offer differentiated banking services and a better customer experience thanks to their established customer base and their centralised capacities on the mobile phone.”
