theceomagazine.com | 165“ There is growing wealth in this
region. The economies are
doing well, and there are these
pockets of wealth growing in
countries like China.”
private banking, and wealth businesses to
clients across 23 countries. All solutions
provide end-to-end digital capabilities,
combining sophisticated channels solutions
with business intelligence and real-time
capabilities. Martin shares that the business
already has a significant presence in APAC –
“We’re in almost every country,” he says –
but acknowledges that it’s a region he wants
to continue to strengthen. He comments that
Temenos is prioritising its operations in four
countries in particular: Australia, Japan,
Singapore and China. “It’s good that we are
strong across APAC, but on the other hand
it also dilutes the efforts and the focus a bit
when you cover so many countries. Thus we
need to have a clearer priority of the
countries we want to target,” Martin says.
A major step forward for Temenos in
APAC was when its technology supported
the development of O-Bank. “That was the
first pure digital end-to-end bank in Taiwan,
and it’s using Temenos technology,” Martin
says proudly. Meanwhile, Temenos’s expansion
in Australia has been aided by its acquisition
of the Australian banking software company
Rubik. The deal was closed in early 2017
after the two companies had been partners
for 10 years. Martin notes the merger has
resulted in accelerated growth for Temenos
in the key market segments of wealth, core
banking and fund administration.
To handle its ever-increasing digital
capabilities, Temenos intentionally hires
people with sound experience in the IT
space. “Everybody wants to go digital. This
means many things for different people,”
Martin explains. “What we did, which was
quite a clever move, was hire a few people
with real banking experience in the digital
space and not just rely on the existing
tech-savvy Temenos staff. For example, we
brought in people who could combine their
knowledge of Temenos products along with
banking experience in order to guide clients
as they developed their own meaningful
digital journeys. This has proven to be quite
a success for us. Nowadays we can provide
the technology to the banks and also give
them a bit of guidance on what we see
working or not working in other parts of the
world. We’re able to help clients develop a
digital roadmap.”
A key trend that has proven advantageous
for Temenos has been the prosperity of the
middle-class population in APAC. “There is
growing wealth in this region. The economies
are doing well, and there are these pockets of
wealth growing in countries like China, the
Philippines and Indonesia. People have more
money for savings and investment, and that’s
a big trend that has accelerated over the past
three to four years,” he says.
Martin asserts that capitalising on this and
helping Temenos on its continuous growth
journey will remain the key focus for him
over the coming years. “I think we have a
very broad portfolio of geographies and
technologies we can offer to the market, so
there’s no doubt that Temenos will continue
to grow in APAC.”“Through the FDS and Temenos collaboration, we have
become the market leader and lead provider of core banking
SaaS in Indonesia and the SEA region.” – Sutjahyo Budiman,
CEO, PT Fortress Data ServicesInterview | INVEST