Insights from the Temenos Community Forum on Banking Innovations
The Temenos Community Forum (TCF) prominently featured themes around Banking as a Service (BaaS) and Banking as a Platform (BaaP), with significant discussions on optimizing business scalability led by Ross Mallace, Executive Vice President and Global Head of SaaS and Partner Ecosystem at Temenos.
Mallace addressed the evolving landscape of customer expectations, stating, “The pace of change is unprecedented. Customers now demand hyper-personalization and instant gratification, challenging us to adapt swiftly to these needs.”
Ermes Dajko, Senior Cloud Solutions Architect at Temenos, showcased the scalability of their platforms, emphasizing that “the elements of composability and high-performance infrastructure enable us to rapidly integrate new components and extend services.”
Andrew Reeves, Managing Director of the SaaS Business Office at Temenos, elaborated on scalability, noting, “It’s crucial to tailor technology to your immediate requirements and to adjust capacity seamlessly as business needs evolve.” He also stressed the importance of regional scalability, stating that cloud and SaaS solutions enable service delivery in new markets.
Mallace reiterated the significance of BaaS, emphasizing its role in providing banking services to non-banking sectors. He remarked, “Consumers today expect a range of personalized financial products to accompany their purchasing choices—like the ability to finance purchases seamlessly.”
Customer Engagement in Banking
During a second-day session, Elias Ghanem, Vice President and Global Head of the Capgemini Research Institute for Financial Services, pointed out a critical crisis in banking: “Currently, many banks are struggling to identify new customer segments, with 82% reporting difficulties in delivering personalized service effectively.”
He highlighted that consumers view banking through three lenses: service, value, and emotion. Alarmingly, 29% expressed dissatisfaction with the basic services they receive. Ghanem urged banks to create more engaging customer experiences, drawing inspiration from successful fintechs and neobanks that leverage technology to provide value-driven offerings.
He advised financial institutions to shift their focus from merely transactional interactions to orchestrating comprehensive customer experiences, emphasizing the need to learn from innovative competitors.
Regulatory Updates and Challenges
Lisa Hall, Product Director of Regulation and Compliance at Temenos, shared insights on evolving regulatory landscapes. She highlighted an alarming increase in fines, with the FCA’s total escalating from £192 million in 2020 to £567 million in 2021, underscoring the imperative for compliance.
Hall also pointed out significant growth in alerts for regulatory changes, attributing some of the surge to geopolitical shifts and the ongoing ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Temenos is actively developing solutions, including a new module for qualified intermediaries that simplifies regulatory compliance for institutions involved in U.S. securities.
Synergizing Banks and Fintechs
Abid Mumtaz, Global Lead at Wise, discussed the potential for collaboration between banks and fintechs, stressing the need for mutual understanding. He posed three critical questions for fostering productive partnerships:
- Are you addressing a real issue?
- Do both parties understand each other’s operational frameworks?
- Is the relationship built on leveraging each other’s strengths?
Mumtaz emphasized that successful collaborations rely on recognizing the unique advantages each party brings to the table.
Navigating Green Regulations
A closing session featured Henri Vanhomwegen, Head of Product at Greenomy, focusing on sustainability reporting legislation. He outlined the requirements for corporates and financial institutions to comply with green taxonomies, which aim to standardize sustainability disclosures across industries.
By 2024, over 50,000 corporations will need to adhere to these standards, necessitating solutions that facilitate compliance. Greenomy aims to create a robust ecosystem to support firms in meeting these requirements efficiently, integrating seamlessly with the Temenos platform.
As the financial landscape continues to evolve rapidly, the insights shared at TCF reflect a shared commitment to customer-centric innovation, regulatory compliance, and collaborative growth between banks and fintechs.