Temenos, a Swiss banking software company, said that it has helped Orange Bank Africa to go live with cloud-native Temenos Transact delivered as SaaS and provide innovative digital banking services in West Africa.

According to the banking software provider, its Temenos Transact core banking technology scales to support Orange Bank to launch and bring in financial inclusion in the African WAEMU region, beginning with the Ivory Coast.

Temenos’ cloud technology is said to help in the sustainable, long-term growth for Orange Bank Africa by cutting down IT costs, operational complexity, and in generating an improved cost/income ratio.

Orange Bank Africa has been launched in Abidjan and Côte d’Ivoire through the partnership of telecommunications provider Orange and financial services provider NSIA Group.

Patrick Roussel – Orange Vice President, MEA Mobile Financial Services said: “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.”

The Swiss banking software company and its partner, MCB Consulting, are said to have closely worked with Orange Bank Africa to implement the solution remotely following the outbreak of Covid-19.

According to Temenos, its core banking technology is hosted on Microsoft Azure.

The company said that its SaaS technology and dedicated team support helped in smooth implementation within the original project timescales in spite of the pandemic.

Temenos said that its Model Bank approach has offered highly localized, pre-configured banking functionality so that the new software could be quickly deployed without the necessity for customization.

As per the Swiss banking software company, the mobile-first banking strategy of Orange Bank Africa was developed to offer financial services to the phones of consumers.

Temenos claimed that its banking technology will enable Orange Bank Africa to innovate continuously and offer customers with much-required access to savings accounts and also micro-loans. The Swiss banking software provider said that its new technology enables process automation for these services to help in delivering vital funding to more people at a quicker rate and aid financial inclusion.

Jean-Michel Hilsenkopf – Chief Operating Officer of 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 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.”

  Abidjan, Banking industry news, Côte d’Ivoire, Fintech industry news, Jean-Michel Hilsenkopf, NSIA Group, Orange, Orange Bank Africa, Patrick Roussel, Temenos, Temenos Transact, West Africa