GENEVA, Switzerland, 22 January 2009: Temenos (SWX: TEMN), the global provider of integrated core banking systems, today announced that 44 new clients went live with Temenos T24 (T24) during 2008. This compares to 36 go-lives announced in 2007, representing an increase of more than 20%. The majority of these banks opted for Temenos Model Bank methodology in order to reduce implementation time and costs, minimise customisation and lower project risk. On average, banks achieved implementation times of less than 12 months.

At its peak of activity in 2008, Temenos’ 1300 strong professional services team supported more than 150 client projects, including upgrades and new Model Bank implementations. This achievement demonstrates the strength of the company’s support capabilities, including the Temenos Application Management division (TAM), as well as confirming Model Bank as a proven solution, built on pre-configured products and best practice processes.

2008 also saw banks implementing more modules. On average, new customers took seven more T24 modules than in 2006, reflecting increased take up of the additional T24 functionality developed by Temenos. Despite customers taking more modules, however, Temenos has still been able to reduce project timelines, by around 40% over the last three years. Banks are extending their usage of the system and enjoying the benefits earlier.

Banks that went live in 2008 included Bank of Shanghai, one of the largest city commercial banks in China, which uses T24 to support its entire retail operations, servicing 11 million accounts. Jiang Hong, Vice President, Bank of Shanghai comments: “The successful implementation signified a pivotal point in the bank’s development. Our long term business strategy is to become a truly international bank with global scope. T24’s scalability and open
systems architecture enables us to standardise our processes and manage more than 11 million customer accounts from one central point. It also provides us with unrivalled scalability to support our retail operations. The system’s rich functionality means we can deliver cutting edge integrated product and services offerings to both existing and new markets.”

Others, such as Volkswagen Bank S.A and ACLEDA Bank, both rapidly deployed T24 to launch new international operations and services in line with local regulatory and licensing deadlines. Volkswagen Bank S.A quickly deployed T24 to become Mexico’s first direct bank, offering branchless services through dealerships and call centres. The bank selected T24 because it could be rapidly approved in line with time constraints set by the Mexican government. Mark Lagarie, CIO, Volkswagen Bank, S.A. says: “T24 enabled us to implement a solution which meets the Mexican legislation requirements. As a branchless operation, the integration to our existing and complex system environment was crucial for us. Temenos consultants helped us to achieve this goal throughout the complete implementation cycle. We are looking forward to expanding the use of T24 in line with our business needs.”

ACLEDA Bank, a fast growing Cambodian financial institution, worked with Temenos Professional Services consultants to implement T24 Model Bank in just two and a half months. This rapid implementation enabled ACLEDA to open its new operations in Laos and help the bank meet its licensing deadline.

Andreas Andreades, CEO of Temenos, says: “2008 signified another record year for our Professional Services organisation. The significant reduction in implementation time is testament to Temenos’ ongoing development and commitment to its Model Bank methodology and additional products, such as T-Verify, to further assist clients with their upgrades. As a result, banks around the world are benefitting from safe and rapid T24 project delivery at a reduced rate of risk and cost, with minimal customisation. In the current climate, speed of deployment is vital for banks to quickly experience and maximise the benefits of implementing an international, fully integrated system and deliver market leading products to their clients to compete as effectively as possible.”

About Temenos
Founded in 1993 and listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SWX: TEMN), Temenos Group AG is a global provider of banking software systems in the Retail, Corporate & Correspondent, Universal, Private, Islamic and Microfinance & Community banking markets. Headquartered in Geneva with 44 offices worldwide, Temenos serves over 650 customers in more than 120 countries. Temenos’ software products provide advanced technology and rich functionality, incorporating best practice processes that leverage Temenos’ experience in over 600 implementations around the globe. Temenos’ advanced and automated implementation approach, provided by its strong Client Services organisation, ensures efficient and low-risk core banking platform migrations.

Temenos annually invests around 20% in R&D, significantly more than its peers, into a single fully packaged upgradeable software release, which ensures all Temenos customers benefit from modern technology and support indefinitely.

Temenos is top of the IBS Sales League Table 2008, winner of the Best Core Banking Product category in Banking Technology magazine’s Readers’ Choice Awards 2008, winner of the Financial-i Leaders in Innovation award for the most innovative core banking systems solution 2008 and is listed in the American Banker top 100 FinTech companies.

For more information please visit www.temenos.com