The Asia Pacific region continues to represent one of the most dynamic arenas for banking transformation. With growing middle-class populations, increasingly digitised economies and regulatory environments in flux, financial institutions across the region are facing pressures to innovate while preserving reliability, compliance and customer trust. A region at the intersection of scale, complexity and digital opportunity Opening the Temenos Asia Pacific Regional Forum 2025 in Manila, Will Dale, managing director for Asia Pacific, positioned the Philippines as a representative case of these dynamics. He noted the country’s young median age, expanding economy and evolving regulatory architecture as fertile ground for digital transformation—but also underscored the challenge this presents to institutions with ageing core infrastructure. “Banks need to modernise their foundations to respond to customer expectations and regulatory mandates,” Dale said, pointing out that innovation alone is not sufficient unless it is backed by systems that are scalable, compliant and adaptable to local conditions. Core transformation as a progressive journey, not a binary choice Will Moroney, chief revenue officer of Temenos, addressed the complexity of core banking systems and the need for financial institutions to adopt transformation strategies that are realistic and risk-managed. “Core banking is never simple,” Moroney said. “But it must be modernised—and it can be done progressively, without high-risk disruption.” Temenos supports three primary pathways to transformation: full core replacement, modular modernisation and coexistence of new modules with legacy systems. This flexibility reflects the varied priorities, risk appetites and resource constraints of banks across the region. Will Dale Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Temenos Will Moroney Chief Revenue Officer at Temenos According to Moroney, this approach has contributed to Temenos’ ability to support 347 go-lives globally in 2024, including 47 in Asia Pacific. These implementations range from Tier 1 institutions undertaking large-scale transformations to digital-native banks launching greenfield operations. He emphasised that the company’s approach is rooted in “industrialised transformation”—a delivery methodology that combines pre-configured model banks, partner integration frameworks, and reusable toolkits to reduce complexity and shorten implementation timelines. This model was instrumental in recent implementations at institutions such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Rabobank, Bank of Queensland and Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB). Rebuilding from within: engineering, delivery and service alignment Temenos’ internal transformation was outlined by Barb Morgan, chief product and technology officer, who discussed how the company has restructured its engineering, delivery and support models to deliver more consistent, outcome-oriented client experiences. Morgan explained that Temenos adopted the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) to drive more predictable software releases, introduced governance-by-design across its product lifecycle, and embedded security, quality and performance benchmarks at the architectural level. “We are not just delivering outputs,” she said. “We are now focused on delivering outcomes that are resilient, measurable and relevant.” Some of the early results from these changes include a reduction in the time required to release new versions to software-as-a-service (SaaS) clients—from six months to just 48 hours—and a 40% drop in client-reported issues. Morgan attributed this to stronger triage protocols, better engineering accountability and a more integrated feedback loop with clients. She also described a shift in how Temenos brings new products to market. “We will only announce new products if they are already live, in private preview with clients, or set for general availability within six months,” she said. “That is a promise of readiness, not a projection.” AI embedded in design, not an afterthought Artificial intelligence (AI) was a major theme throughout the plenary. Morgan shared that Temenos has dedicated more than 200 engineers to embedding AI across both its internal operations and external product offerings. Internally, Temenos has launched “Pax Pro Pilot”—a generative AI tool that assists developers with code writing, testing automation and documentation. The tool has already reduced development cycles significantly, and Morgan noted that this forms part of a broader strategy to integrate AI throughout the product lifecycle. Client-facing AI capabilities span use cases including financial crime mitigation, risk analytics, customer engagement and intelligent onboarding. All AI models are designed to be explainable and auditable to meet regulatory requirements. “AI is not something we have tacked on,” Morgan said. “It is embedded into how our platform works, and it is governed from the start.” Case studies in modular delivery and regulatory readiness Two clients—WeLab and KAF Digital Bank—shared how they leveraged Temenos’ modular architecture to address country-specific regulatory and operational needs. Jessica Lam, group chief strategy officer at WeLab, described the company’s experience in launching its virtual banks, Welab Bank, in Hong Kong, and Bank Saqu in Indonesia. She said the flexibility of Temenos’ platform enabled them to complete the technical build for Bank Saqu in six months, as compared to the 12 months it took to build the technical system for Welab Bank to meet regulatory requirements. “We were able to focus on customer experience and product innovation, without getting stalled by back-end complexity,” she said. Barb Morgan Chief Product and Technology Officer at Temenos Jessica Lam Group Chief Strategy Officer at WeLab Rafiza Ghazali, CEO of KAF Digital Bank in Malaysia, spoke about how her institution deployed a fully Shariah-compliant retail platform using Temenos modules. She explained that regulatory compliance—particularly Islamic finance governance—was embedded into the platform’s configuration. “We did not have to build workarounds,” she noted. “Compliance was part of the architecture.” Technology partnerships and regulatory infrastructure Supporting perspectives from partners added further validation to Temenos’ strategy. Michael Araneta, head of ASEAN Financial Services at Amazon Web Services (AWS), discussed how cloud infrastructure is increasingly being used to host mission-critical applications such as core banking and payments. He noted that AWS has secured approvals from regulators across major Asia Pacific markets to support this transition. Rafiza Ghazali CEO of KAF Digital Bank Michael Araneta Head of ASEAN Financial Services at Amazon Web Service Soumya Ghoshal, partner and director at Boston Consulting Group, placed core banking transformation in the broader context of business model innovation and risk governance. He argued that technology upgrades are increasingly viewed as strategic investments—not just IT decisions—and that successful banks are those that align transformation with compliance, operational risk and talent development. Soumya Ghoshal Partner and Director at Boston Consulting Group A long-term commitment to scalable, compliant innovation The overall message from the plenary was one of steady, deliberate transformation. Temenos is repositioning its platform not as a monolithic software suite but as a composable system designed to evolve with client needs, market shifts and regulatory changes. By offering multiple paths to modernisation—supported by embedded intelligence, multi-cloud deployment options and an expanding partner ecosystem—Temenos is responding to the unique demands of Asia Pacific banks. At the same time, it is reinforcing its credibility by investing in engineering discipline, product readiness and co-development. Moroney concluded by reaffirming Temenos’ long-term investment plans, including more than $100 million in additional funding through 2028 and the continuation of its policy to reinvest 20% of annual revenue into research and development. “Our job is not just to build technology,” he said. “It is to deliver performance, resilience and adaptability in an industry that does not tolerate failure.”
