Temenos Integration Framework Utilised for Launch of African Banking Venture
Banking software provider Temenos said that its Temenos Integration Framework, which aims to remove the cost and complexity of integrating multiple applications within a single hub, has been made generally available.
The group, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, said that the framework has enabled Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) to launch M-Shwari, one the most successful new banking venture in Africa in recent years, in less than five months. The operational agility enabled by the framework is a boost to any banks IT architecture, enabling fast-paced service adoption and speedy reaction to product demand.
The framework offers banks the options of assembling a complete model banking solution with best-of-breed components; assembling a system using its own components where it already has them or prefers them; or assembling a system using a mix of both its own and third party components.
“The Temenos Integration Framework has been critical in enabling the speed and efficiency with which we have been able to roll out this innovative product and handle the unexpectedly large volume of transactions and data,” said Dennis Volemi, CBA’s head of technology, new business ventures. “M-Shwari far exceeded all the performance KPIs that we set out to achieve in the first 100 days and continues to vastly outpace all of our original expectations.”
M-Shwari was officially launched ahead of schedule in November 2012, attracting an average 32,000 new customers per business day during its first 100 days. It took M-Shwari only one month to attract one billion Kenyan shillings (KES) (US$11.6m) in deposits and 41 days to hit the one million customers mark, beating its initial target of reaching this number in 90 days.
By April this year, in less than half the time originally expected, over 3m customers had been onboarded, a level identified as critical for the viability of the business.