Cloud-Based Core Banking Becomes a Reality in Kenya
Poster: SySAdmin
Posted on October 11, 2012 at 3:07:01 AM
Cloud-Based Core Banking Becomes a Reality in Kenya
GENEVA, October 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
Fountain Credit Services becomes first institution in Kenya to run its operations in
the cloud
Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the market leading provider of banking software, today announces
that Fountain Credit Services ('Fountain'), a new Microfinance institution (MFI) in Kenya,
has launched on TEMENOS T24 for Microfinancing, hosted in the cloud. In doing so, Fountain
becomes the first institution in Kenya to adopt cloud-based banking services. By running
in the cloud, Fountain has significantly reduced its initial capital outlay - which
typically accounts for two-thirds of start-up costs* - as well as its ongoing operating
costs, through the 'pay-per-use' model. In addition, the cloud will support Fountain's
plans for rapid expansion, as new users and branches can be added seamlessly onto T24,
which is running on the Microsoft Windows Azure platform.
In adopting the cloud-based model, Fountain demonstrates the viability of performing
credit and lending in the cloud without an on-premise system - a trend likely to become
commonplace among banks and other financial services providers in the region. The managed
service for Fountain is hosted in Europe and operated by Temenos, delivered through an
online connection to Fountain. Relieving Fountain of onsite technology maintenance allows
it to concentrate on delivering the highest quality service and products to its customer
base. T24 also contains powerful and robust fraud detection capabilities which will help
protect Fountain from one of the major issues affecting financial institutions in East
Africa. According to research from Deloitte, fraud has cost financial institutions in the
region US $48 million in the last 18 months.
The adoption of a core banking system from the cloud represents a shift in IT strategy
for new banking entrants in Kenya, lowering barriers to entry and increasing the ability
to service the 14 million unbanked - an estimated third of the bankable population.
Temenos' Model bank is pre-configured, based on Microfinance and community banking best
practices, delivering the necessary control, efficiency, productivity and scalability, at
a low cost for MFIs. Through its delivery of a model bank via the cloud, Temenos is
enabling new banks and MFIs to set up with just the need for staff and an internet
connection.
Commenting on the launch of the microfinance software, Arch. John Kithaka, CEO, FEP
Group (Fountain Enterprises Programme) said: "We chose the cloud solution from Temenos as
they offer a complete managed service and incremental upgrades that meet our demands. Our
vision for launching Fountain Credit Services Ltd was to deliver the best possible
services and products to our customers - Temenos T24 Microfinance and Community Banking
(MCB) enables us to do exactly that. T24 MCB is a secure and robust system that will
enable us to tackle fraud effectively. Procuring T24 from the cloud brings with it huge
economic benefits and provides Fountain with the scalability and flexibility to grow with
our customers' demands."
David Arnott, CEO, Temenos said: "Fountain is a true pioneer, being the first Kenyan
financial institution to launch with such a configuration. Relieving the institution of
upfront and ongoing core system maintenance will allow it to focus on best serving its
customers. As Fountain grows and brings more branches online in 2013, it can
obtain the new applications and products to meet this demand from the cloud -
essentially creating a self-funding platform for the MFI. Deploying new services
incrementally maximises the profitability of Fountain and provides the institution with
the foundation to build new revenues from different sections of the market as its business
matures."
Through the pay-per-use model, Fountain's IT costs are low and directly linked to its
usage of the T24 service, allowing it to offer highly affordable products and services to
its customer base of largely low income Kenyan communities. Fountain will benefit from the
flexibility to procure additional services as needed in the future, without developing new
infrastructures - for example, mobile payments.
*Based on a study conducted by the Office of Fair Trading in the UK, entitled 'Review
of barriers to entry, expansion and exit in retail banking, 2012'
About Fountain Credit Services
A member of the FEP (Fountain Enterprises Programme) Group of companies and Founded in
2011, Fountain Credit Services Limited (FCSL) has rapidly grown and currently has 20
operational marketing offices spread in over 18 Counties in Kenya. With its head quarters
in Nairobi, the institutions exists to meet the financial needs of rural and urban Kenyans
left out by the mainstream banks and most Microfinance insitutions in an innovative and
sustainable way. The vision is to reach out in the society in a way as to mitigate on the
high levels of rampant poverty which has ravaged many, able and hard working but
financially excluded men and women in the society. FCSL aims to be a first mover with
innovative products, services and delivery channels riding on technology, a move that will
allow it rapidly extend its operations in all parts of Kenya while serving customers in an
all rounded way.
For more information please visit http://www.fep-group.com
About Temenos
Founded in 1993 and listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX: TEMN
[http://www.six-swiss-exchange.com/shares/security_info_en.html?id=CH0012453913USD4 ]),
Temenos Group AG is the market leading provider of banking software systems to retail,
corporate, universal, private, Islamic, microfinance and community banks, wealth managers,
and financial institutions. Headquartered in Geneva with more than 55 offices worldwide,
Temenos software is proven in over 1,500 customer deployments in more than 125 countries
across the world. Temenos' products provide advanced technology and rich functionality,
incorporating best practice processes that leverage Temenos' expertise around the globe.
Temenos customers are proven to be more profitable than their peers: in the period
2008-2010, Temenos customers enjoyed on average a 30% higher return on assets, a 46%
higher return on capital and an 8.5 percentage point lower cost/income ratio than banks
running legacy applications.
For more information please visit http://www.temenos.com
Temenos contacts:
Ben Robinson
Director of Strategy and Marketing
Tel: +41-22-708-15-35
Email: brobinson@temenos.com
Chris McGinnis
Associate Director, Strategy and IR
Tel: +44(0)207-423-3774
Email: cmcginnis@temenos.com
Michael Golding
Head of Communications
Tel: +44-(0)-207-423-3751
Email: mgolding@temenos.com
Stuart Cooper
Hotwire for Temenos
Tel: +44(0)-207-608-4695
Email: temenos@hotwirepr.com
Temenos
GENEVA, October 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
Fountain Credit Services becomes first institution in Kenya to run its operations in
the cloud
Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the market leading provider of banking software, today announces
that Fountain Credit Services ('Fountain'), a new Microfinance institution (MFI) in Kenya,
has launched on TEMENOS T24 for Microfinancing, hosted in the cloud. In doing so, Fountain
becomes the first institution in Kenya to adopt cloud-based banking services. By running
in the cloud, Fountain has significantly reduced its initial capital outlay - which
typically accounts for two-thirds of start-up costs* - as well as its ongoing operating
costs, through the 'pay-per-use' model. In addition, the cloud will support Fountain's
plans for rapid expansion, as new users and branches can be added seamlessly onto T24,
which is running on the Microsoft Windows Azure platform.
In adopting the cloud-based model, Fountain demonstrates the viability of performing
credit and lending in the cloud without an on-premise system - a trend likely to become
commonplace among banks and other financial services providers in the region. The managed
service for Fountain is hosted in Europe and operated by Temenos, delivered through an
online connection to Fountain. Relieving Fountain of onsite technology maintenance allows
it to concentrate on delivering the highest quality service and products to its customer
base. T24 also contains powerful and robust fraud detection capabilities which will help
protect Fountain from one of the major issues affecting financial institutions in East
Africa. According to research from Deloitte, fraud has cost financial institutions in the
region US $48 million in the last 18 months.
The adoption of a core banking system from the cloud represents a shift in IT strategy
for new banking entrants in Kenya, lowering barriers to entry and increasing the ability
to service the 14 million unbanked - an estimated third of the bankable population.
Temenos' Model bank is pre-configured, based on Microfinance and community banking best
practices, delivering the necessary control, efficiency, productivity and scalability, at
a low cost for MFIs. Through its delivery of a model bank via the cloud, Temenos is
enabling new banks and MFIs to set up with just the need for staff and an internet
connection.
Commenting on the launch of the microfinance software, Arch. John Kithaka, CEO, FEP
Group (Fountain Enterprises Programme) said: "We chose the cloud solution from Temenos as
they offer a complete managed service and incremental upgrades that meet our demands. Our
vision for launching Fountain Credit Services Ltd was to deliver the best possible
services and products to our customers - Temenos T24 Microfinance and Community Banking
(MCB) enables us to do exactly that. T24 MCB is a secure and robust system that will
enable us to tackle fraud effectively. Procuring T24 from the cloud brings with it huge
economic benefits and provides Fountain with the scalability and flexibility to grow with
our customers' demands."
David Arnott, CEO, Temenos said: "Fountain is a true pioneer, being the first Kenyan
financial institution to launch with such a configuration. Relieving the institution of
upfront and ongoing core system maintenance will allow it to focus on best serving its
customers. As Fountain grows and brings more branches online in 2013, it can
obtain the new applications and products to meet this demand from the cloud -
essentially creating a self-funding platform for the MFI. Deploying new services
incrementally maximises the profitability of Fountain and provides the institution with
the foundation to build new revenues from different sections of the market as its business
matures."
Through the pay-per-use model, Fountain's IT costs are low and directly linked to its
usage of the T24 service, allowing it to offer highly affordable products and services to
its customer base of largely low income Kenyan communities. Fountain will benefit from the
flexibility to procure additional services as needed in the future, without developing new
infrastructures - for example, mobile payments.
*Based on a study conducted by the Office of Fair Trading in the UK, entitled 'Review
of barriers to entry, expansion and exit in retail banking, 2012'
About Fountain Credit Services
A member of the FEP (Fountain Enterprises Programme) Group of companies and Founded in
2011, Fountain Credit Services Limited (FCSL) has rapidly grown and currently has 20
operational marketing offices spread in over 18 Counties in Kenya. With its head quarters
in Nairobi, the institutions exists to meet the financial needs of rural and urban Kenyans
left out by the mainstream banks and most Microfinance insitutions in an innovative and
sustainable way. The vision is to reach out in the society in a way as to mitigate on the
high levels of rampant poverty which has ravaged many, able and hard working but
financially excluded men and women in the society. FCSL aims to be a first mover with
innovative products, services and delivery channels riding on technology, a move that will
allow it rapidly extend its operations in all parts of Kenya while serving customers in an
all rounded way.
For more information please visit http://www.fep-group.com
About Temenos
Founded in 1993 and listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX: TEMN
[http://www.six-swiss-exchange.com/shares/security_info_en.html?id=CH0012453913USD4 ]),
Temenos Group AG is the market leading provider of banking software systems to retail,
corporate, universal, private, Islamic, microfinance and community banks, wealth managers,
and financial institutions. Headquartered in Geneva with more than 55 offices worldwide,
Temenos software is proven in over 1,500 customer deployments in more than 125 countries
across the world. Temenos' products provide advanced technology and rich functionality,
incorporating best practice processes that leverage Temenos' expertise around the globe.
Temenos customers are proven to be more profitable than their peers: in the period
2008-2010, Temenos customers enjoyed on average a 30% higher return on assets, a 46%
higher return on capital and an 8.5 percentage point lower cost/income ratio than banks
running legacy applications.
For more information please visit http://www.temenos.com
Temenos contacts:
Ben Robinson
Director of Strategy and Marketing
Tel: +41-22-708-15-35
Email: brobinson@temenos.com
Chris McGinnis
Associate Director, Strategy and IR
Tel: +44(0)207-423-3774
Email: cmcginnis@temenos.com
Michael Golding
Head of Communications
Tel: +44-(0)-207-423-3751
Email: mgolding@temenos.com
Stuart Cooper
Hotwire for Temenos
Tel: +44(0)-207-608-4695
Email: temenos@hotwirepr.com
Temenos