Latin Finance - July/August 2009 - 39

corporate statement A solid foothold and an expanding footprint in Latin America ith crisis impacting all segments of the global economy there is still one market segment in which it is possible to prosper. While larger banks are scaling back services and expenditure, and some are even consolidating, focus has shifted to smaller regional banks. These banks are seizing the opportunity to grow and restructure, and a mainstay of that restructuring is the implementation of new core banking systems. According to Hernando Torres, Temenos South American Director, “The large global banks present in Latin America seem not to be willing to make core banking investments at this time,” however regional and local banks see an opportunity. Large banks are not willing to risk money, so local banks are preparing to gain market share.” Alexander Groenendyk, President (Temenos Americas) adds “At this rate, with the eagerness of Temenos to work with these smaller regional banks, many of these institutions will emerge when the market rebounds on equal technological footing to some of the industry’s largest banks. This equalization will create more competition within the LatAm banking world as clients will have greater selection among banks, thus accelerating the need to match growing customer needs and putting the Latin American banking sector on par with the rest of the world.” Latin America is not known as an easy market for foreign firms to enter or in which to sustain their businesses. Whether due to difficult government procurement processes or unstable economies many companies shy away from this lucrative yet sometimes temperamental marketplace. However, this has not been the case with Temenos. Groenendyk believes the company’s success is to due to an ease of integration, which is based on the company’s policy of having staff and support teams comprised of regional talent, familiar with the language and culture. “The key to the success is building up our staff with Latin Americans, recruiting locally and bringing in people from other parts of LatAm,” he says. “Not to mention the excitement generated in the local banking community as never-before-seen W systems and tools become available creating a self-perpetuating marketing machine.” SWISS based core systems provider Temenos Group (SWX: TEMN) has long been a leader in the banking industry but since their arrival in Latin America in 2003 they have been taking the region by storm. Their T24 core banking system is rapidly becoming a regional standard and to date Temenos has some 30 in-house clients running T24 in ten countries including Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina. The company’s largest operations are in Mexico, with over 100 Latin America based staff posted across the region. The Temenos LatAm presence is continuing to grow. Most recently Temenos started implementing in Colombia, Banorte in Mexico, and APAP in the Dominican Republic. More established installations include Banco Financiero Internacional (BFI) in Cuba, Banco Popular in Costa Rica and in Panama MMG Bank and over 10 banks in Mexico. Temenos now has their entrance firmly established and are continually moving into new markets but they still face stiff competition, both regional and international. “We see two groups of competitors, regional vendors such as Cobis, Arango Software, De la Robla, and Datapro, as well as the typical global vendors like Infosys, Iflex, SAP, and Fiserv” says Torres. In order to stay ahead of both regional and international competition Temenos is both working to break new ground and to solidify existing positions. Currently there is no Temenos presence in Chile, moving into the Andean region and increasing penetration in Brazil and Central America are on the agenda for 2009. Latin America is somewhat insulated from the tumultuous economic effects worldwide. Having suffered past economic crises, notably in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, this part of the world has a resilience that is proving enticing to foreign firms. Temenos already has solid foothold but looks to continue their expansion and will be a company to watch in Latin America. n LatinFinance 39 July/August 2009 guide

Latin Finance - July/August 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Latin Finance - July/August 2009