Malta’s newest challenger bank Laskaris Finance, which aims to serve high-net-worth individuals and corporate clients, has chosen Temenos to be its cloud core banking provider, reports Ruby Hinchliffe of Fintech Futures, Finovate’s sister publication.

Laskaris is currently applying for a banking license from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) and the European Central Bank (ECB), which will allow it to work as a credit institution in and from Malta.

Temenos says its T24 Transact core cloud product will enable the Maltese challenger to launch in the “shortest” time frames, keep to regulatory standards, and screen transactions to tackle financial crime with Temenos’ Financial Crime Mitigation (FCM).

“Laskaris accepts the responsibility of challenging the status quo in banking – naturally within the parameters set by the local and EU regulators – simply because clients deserve to be provided with a superior array of banking services,” said Laskaris founder and CEO Roderick Psaila.

The neobank wants to be a ‘one-stop-shop’ for high-earning individuals and corporate businesses by fusing personal and commercial banking needs together.

Malta, despite being just over 78,000 acres, was ranked in the top 20 financial service jurisdictions by the World Economic Forum’s 2017 to 2018 Global Competitiveness report.

Temenos’ Europe MD Steen Jensen said he’s “excited to see the growing list of challenger banks in Europe.” Laskaris is the tenth client for Temenos in Malta, with other customers including e-commerce payments solution Truevo and smart acquiring solution Credorax. Jensen called this “a testimony to our local expertise and growing footprint on the island.”

Founded in 1993, Temenos debuted its Connect Mobile Banking application at FinovateEurope 2015 in London. With 3,000+ bank clients in 150 countries, Temenos reaches more than 500 million end customers. In August, Temenos acquired Kony for $559 million. The company has a market capitalization of $11.8 billion.

IIG Bank, a specialist trade finance bank based in Malta, will leverage a pair of solutions from Temenos to offer its clients a wider variety of differentiated services from treasury cash management and deposit accounts to documentary credit and trade financing. The bank has gone live with Temenos Infinity, a digital front office platform, as well as Temenos T24 Transact, the firm’s next generation core banking solution.

“Temenos has given us much more flexibility to be able to tailor deposit and trade finance products to specific customer needs,” IIG Bank Managing Director and CEO Raymond Busuttil said. “Temenos banking software is providing us with cutting-edge technology combined with the most complete functionality in private and corporate banking.”

The new technologies will replace legacy systems that IIG Bank said had become both highly restrictive and unable to support new business initiatives. In the context of the country’s anticipated GDP growth of more than 5% this year, IIG Bank believes Temenos’ technology will help it compete in a financial services sector that is becoming more competitive.

Praising the speed of the Temenos implementation, Busuttil added that the partnership will help the bank respond to current demand as well as better prepare for the challenges of the future. “We are already seeing significant improvement which will enable further growth for IIG Bank,” he said. “Corporate customers are demanding more from their banking experience and expect a seamless customer journey. We selected Temenos to future-proof our operations, enabling us to deliver a great customer experience going forward.”

The partnership with IIG Bank is the second big fintech announcement from Temenos this week. The Geneva, Switzerland-based banking software provider teamed up with Mizrahi-Tefahot, the third largest bank in Israel, to replace its capital market systems with Temenos T24 Transact.

Recognized last month by Gartner Magic Quadrant as a Leader in Global Retail Core Banking, and at the Finnovex Awards for Excellence in Digital Banking, Temenos demonstrated its Connect Mobile Banking solution at FinovateEurope 2015. The company is also an alum of our developers conference, presenting its B2B Financial Apps Marketplace at FinDEVr Silicon Valley 2015.

Temenos was founded in 1993. Max Chuard, who joined the company as Chief Financial Officer in 2012, was appointed CEO in February.

New Zealand bank TSB has gone live with Temenos Infinity for online account opening and onboarding in just nine weeks, reports Sharon Kimathi of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

Included in the short implementation period was an API-based connectivity for workflow integration directly with TSB’s existing Microsoft Dynamics’ client relationship management (CRM) system.

It now provides applicants with the option to “save and resume,” returning to an application later, on any channel, without the need to start over.

Hamish Archer, TSB general manager – technology said: “We want more Kiwis to experience our world-class service, so we’re excited to use technologies like this which work seamlessly alongside our people, who genuinely care about doing the best for our customers.”

Martin Frick, managing director – APAC, Temenos, said: “We are delighted that TSB has chosen Temenos to power its growth, and that they are already starting to see results from the implementation.”

Since going live, Temenos Infinity has shortened the time needed to complete customer applications and insert the completed digital application directly into the TSB back office process.

Temenos was founded 1993, and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. The company demonstrated its Connect Mobile Banking solution at FinovateEurope 2015. Later that year, the company participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, presenting its B2B Financial Apps Marketplace.