emenos (SIX: TEMN), the banking software company, announces that Banque Libano-Française (BLF) Iraq, has upgraded to release 17 (R17) of Temenos T24 Core Banking after a short and successful implementation project.
This is the first step in rolling out Temenos T24 Core Banking version R17 across the group, as the bank positions itself to drive growth across its business segments. Once T24 has launched across all BLF entities, and a robust and scalable technology foundation is in place, the Lebanese bank will build a digital bank on top of the system.
BLF, a leader in the financial services industry in Lebanon, has been operating on T24 since 2007. In Lebanon, the bank offers a network of 58 branches and 173 ATMs. Abroad, the BLF Group operates in France and Cyprus (Banque SBA), as well as in Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and Iraq. As part of its international expansion, BLF opened its first branch in Iraq on October 12, 2012. Its banking activities in Iraq primarily consist of facilitating commercial transactions and loans to Iraqi and Lebanese clients as well as international companies
The bank’s decision to upgrade its Iraqi operations first supports its immediate goal of deploying technology to improve and enhance its offering. The change will result in a direct quality improvement across the bank's services. With its new systematic features, the bank will develop advanced and modern banking services and products. Upgrading to the latest core banking release will support BLF Iraq in enhancing customer convenience, increasing the time to market of products and services, and reducing its operational costs. Following the successful go-live in Iraq, the group will roll out T24 R17 across its other divisions. BLF is the first bank in the Middle East to complete the upgrade to R17.
Philippe Chartouni, Assistant General Manager, Banque Libano-Française, commented: “As a result of true teamwork between our organizations, we are very pleased that Temenos and BLF Iraq have completed the upgrade of T24 to R17. We chose to upgrade our core banking platform across the BLF group entities in order to offer our customers products powered by the most up-to-date technology available, as we continue to take advantage of real-time transactions and comprehensive insight into the customer relationship. Upgrading to T24 - R17 will give us access to a full functional coverage that is constantly enriched, an ever-evolving architecture and an openness to integration. As we move towards building a digital bank, I trust that this upgrade will help us to fulfil our strategic goals.”
Jean-Paul Mergeai, Regional Director - MEA, Temenos, stated: “Temenos continuously invests in its solutions, so as to develop a packaged, upgradable and modern core banking platform which is used by more than 700 financial institutions globally. We were extremely excited with the opportunity to extend our long-term partnership with BLF with this international expansion. We are delighted that BLF successfully completed its Iraqi operations upgrade to T24 R17 in just six months. This rapid upgrade demonstrates Temenos’ operational efficiency and ability to quickly equip financial institutions with the right tools to transform in a market undergoing significant regulatory, competitive pressures and customer changes.”