Temenos anticipates that the partnership will lead to a more rounded solution for its customer base, through the implementation of Software Group's 'under tree' (UT) switch technology, which allows different devices to communicate with each other across different locations - all within the cloud.This UT switch is integrated with mobile technologies providing a strengthened payment option for local networks. This is an exclusive signing for the Software Group with Temenos in core banking.

Murray Gardiner, Director of Microfinance and Community Banking at Temenos, said, "Our T24 platform has always been a strong offering for the microfinance sector particularly now with its availability as a cloud based service. Our partnership with the Software Group is a very natural progression for Temenos and together we are further enabling our customers to make use of recent innovation extending the reach of Temenos T24 for microfinance through cloud based systems".

The partnership will build on Temenos' decade of experience within the microfinance sector, which has involved working with 215 customers across 36 countries, servicing over 10 million accounts. Existing customers include Kenya Women's Finance Trust, Equitas and ARB Apex Bank. Temenos' cloud solution was established in 2011 through a global partnership with Microsoft, enabling its full T24 core banking solution to run on the Microsoft Windows Azure platform with initial emphasis on the microfinance, credit union and community banking sectors

KalinRadev, CEO of Software Group, said: "We chose to exclusively partner with Temenos due to their unrivalled reputation in microfinance and their track record of innovation spanning the past decade. This partnership marks the next big step that Software Group is making to better serve the microfinance industry after working with Temenos for 5 years now. We strongly believe that Temenos and Software Group can provide IT solutions to microfinance ce institutions helping them improve their operations and increase the volume of business resulting in alleviation of the poverty in their regions."

Temenos published a white paper entitled 'Unleashing the benefits of microfinance'at the recent 2013 Partnerships against Poverty Summit (Microcredit Summit Campaign)in the Philippines. Temenos supportsthe Summit's movement for financial inclusion in microfinance alongside Microsoft Corp and Software Group. Please clickhereto download the white paper andhere for further information about the summit.

Larry Reed, Director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, said: "Temenos plays an important role in the provision of technology to address the challenges of financial inclusion and the economic empowerment of the 3 billion people living in poverty. The Microcredit Summit Campaign applauds the innovative steps Temenos is taking in moving this important initiative forward."