Temenos Preps For Aussie Open Banking With Avoka Takeover

Bank technology firm Temenos has struck a deal to acquire banking services and on-boarding firm Avoka in one of the largest exits for an Australian FinTech, reports in the Australian Financial Review said Wednesday (Dec. 12).

Switzerland-based Temenos will acquire Australia-based Avoka for $245 million, reports said, following Temenos’ acquisition for Australia’s Rubik Financial last year. Temenos said it will have 280 staff in Australia once the acquisition of Avoka is completed.

Temenos has targeted Australia as it prepares to introduce its own open banking initiative next year, similar to efforts introduced in the U.K. and Europe earlier this year. Avoka will enable Temenos to add “customer portability” to its offering for banks as it provide support to migrate to the open banking regime, reports said.

In an interview with the publication, Temenos Regional Managing Director Martin Frick said Avoka’s customer on-boarding solution “frankly puts our own front-office on-boarding solution to shame.”

Last year Avoka released research that shed light on major banks’ inability to service small businesses with digital platforms, instead often forcing SMB customers to visit physical branches. Avoka analysts warned that this can place added time pressures on small business owners, with only 24 percent of small business banking products able to be opened online.

In October, Temenos introduced a corporate cash flow management solution to its offering for banks to augment their business services. The feature, Hybrid Pooling, links banks to a solution that allows their corporate customers to manage cash and liquidity for enhanced financial visibility.

Earlier this year, Temenos partnered with Greece’s first challenger bank, Praxia Bank, which will focus on small business and consumer lending. Temenos enables customers to experience an entirely digital on-boarding experience when signing up for Praxia services, the companies said when their collaboration was announced in October.