Temenos CEO Jean-Pierre Brulard opened this year’s Temenos Community Forum (TCF) in Madrid, Spain, with a heartfelt message of gratitude towards customers and partners.
Brulard contextualized the vast payments landscape, noting that the plenary hall hosted 1,000 attendees from 90 countries, celebrating 347 successful go-live projects across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. He emphasized the importance of acknowledging customer implementations.
During his "Listening & Learning Tour," Brulard traveled 45,000 miles to gather direct feedback from customers and partners. He identified four key challenges they faced:
- Growth through differentiation and technology
- Enhancing customer centricity across multiple channels
- Improving operational efficiencies
- Managing risk and compliance
He remarked, "These challenges existed last year and are not new. This year, you face a new one: macroeconomic uncertainty. In uncertain times, you can either wait and see, or focus your investments on what truly matters—technology. Historically, banks that invest in technology during crises perform better and widen the gap with their competitors."
Brulard introduced Temenos’ mission statement and tagline, "Leading Banking Forward," emphasizing that it reflects a collaborative effort with customers. He concluded by inviting attendees to take charge within the community.
Leveraging AI: Building Less, Building Better
Chief Product and Technology Officer Barb Morgan presented advancements in generative and agentic AI, reinforcing the societal importance of banking and collaboration with customers.
"We didn’t create this mission in isolation; it emerged from our partnerships and the input of our community. Leading banking forward transcends a mission—it’s a commitment that shapes economies and people’s lives. My role is turning this vision into reality."
Morgan narrated a poignant story of a mother assisted by a local banker after losing her home in a tornado, highlighting the banks’ profound impact.
She introduced the GenAI Copilot tool, which aims for efficiency in development while emphasizing the concept of "listening to lead." A demonstration showcased a fictional customer using the copilot tool in Microsoft Teams to navigate overdraft limits and interest rates.
Morgan also announced the Temenos AI Studio and the FCM AI Agent. She explained that the AI Studio fosters customer-specific development by offering preloaded banking modules along with training and support for customizing and deploying models.
The FCM AI Agent, she noted, is a compliance and risk training solution, notable for being the first of its kind to gain regulatory acceptance for its explainable reasoning and sanctioned screening capabilities.
Increasing Innovation and Systemizing Service
On the conference’s first day, Temenos CRO Will Moroney emphasized the systematic approach to service delivery, stating that their team extends beyond 750 colleagues to include 8,000 individuals within partnerships. He expressed that if he couldn’t identify a Temenos representative in their product management offices, that would signify success.
The day featured further discussions on innovation and the strategic application of generative and agentic AI, including insights from Paul Weiss, CTO of Regions Bank, Marnix Tummers, IT Director at ABN AMRO, and a keynote by Christian Saredis, Chief Executive of EMEA Financial Services at Microsoft.
The first day of TCF can be encapsulated by a quote from Oren Harari referenced by Saredis: "The electric light didn’t come from the continuous improvement of the candle."