Tenemos CEO Departs Amid Declining Profits

Banking software firm Tenemos is looking for a new CEO after reporting declining profits.

The Swiss company said in a Monday (Jan. 16) news release that longtime chief executive Max Chuard would step down after 20 years with Tenemos.

Chuard, who has also served as the company’s CFO and COO, had reportedly been facing pressure from an activist investor to resign. Andreas Andreades, Tenemos’ executive chairman, will fill in as acting CEO while the company searches for a new chief executive.

“I have made it a priority to establish a strong senior management team during my tenure as CEO, and after more than 20 years with Temenos, this is now the natural time for me to step down to allow the next level of leaders to take the company forward in its next stage of growth,” Chuard said in the release.

The company said Chuard’s tenure was marked by Tenemos’ shift to its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings.

In a separate release, the company announced figures ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings – due next month – showing a 27% decline in operating profit, and earnings before interest and taxes margin falling to 34% from 44% last year.

According to a report by Reuters on Monday, investor Petrus Advisers has been calling on Chuard to step down, arguing he was “far out of his depth.”

However, the investment group still seemed unsatisfied with the news, having previously also criticized Andreades.

“The leadership transition as proposed by Temenos falls short of our demands,” Petrus said in a statement to Reuters.

Last month, Tenemos expanded its partnership with Mbanq, a Florida Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) company, in hopes of capturing a “BaaS market which has seen explosive growth on the back of embedded finance valued at $7 trillion market capitalization by 2030.”

Speaking to PYMNTS’ Karen Webster last week, Mastercard Executive Vice President, Global Digital Partnerships Sherri Haymond said that the $7 trillion figure demonstrates an evolution that began with the pandemic and now has the potential to transform all companies into finance companies.

All types of providers (FinTechs and others) across verticals are working with banks to help give client firms more access to financial services, she said.

“Banking as a service, and embedded finance, taken together — they just represent where the world is going,” Haymond told Webster.