theceomagazine.com | 163“EVERYBODY
wants to go
DIGITAL.”
Temenos has long been on the digital bandwagon and is planning
to extend its banking software reach in Asia-Pacific.WORDS SHARON MASIGE • IMAGES YEW KWANGT
emenos has been expanding
its digital capabilities as it
continues to strengthen its
position in Asia-Pacific. The
banking software company
allocates 20 per cent of its
earnings to research and development, and
when asked about some of its latest
developments, its Managing Director for
APAC, Martin Frick, quickly replies: “I could
talk for hours about that.”
Martin says Temenos’s main investment is
in open application programming interfaces,
which pave the way for an open style of
banking. “We’re presenting our own
technology in a way that everyone can really
see the fantastic benefits that come from
collaborating with Temenos,” he says.
Open banking is an increasingly popular
trend in which businesses are shifting away
from traditionally closed, vertically integrated
models towards systems that allow third-party
fintech companies, start-ups, insurers andretailers to do business with particular banks.
Customers share access to their financial
information with these third parties, and that
in turn creates an enhanced banking
experience via apps or other services.
On the back of open banking comes
another major development: the Temenos
Marketplace. “You can imagine it as
something like an app store,” Martin explains.
“We have partners who write software that
connects to our own Temenos software, and
they then promote and sell this software on
the Temenos Marketplace. We essentially
facilitate the meeting between the banks and
the innovative fintech companies. But at the
same time, we guarantee that when a bank is
interested in the offerings or services of a
fintech company, it works properly with our
systems which the bank has already purchased
or acquired. We are kind of an intermediary
between the fintechs and banks.”
Temenos is based in Switzerland and
provides solutions for retail, corporate, »Interview | INVEST