Saudi Arabia Tourism Development Fund Launches Digital Lending Service with Temenos in Just 60 Days

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New digital service streamlines access to financing solutions from TDF to advance tourism projects in Saudi Arabia; Temenos (www.Temenos.com) cloud banking platform enabled rapid development and time-to-market; Powered by Temenos and implemented by NdcTech, the service offers digital customer onboarding and loan origination, providing a fast, frictionless customer experience.

Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the banking software company, announced that Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Development Fund (TDF) has gone live with a digital lending service on Temenos in just 60 days. The new service provides investors and businesses in the tourism sector with rapid access to financing solutions from TDF. The SAR 15 billion (USD 4 billion) fund was established to enable private sector tourism investments and develop the tourism sector as part of plans to diversify the Saudi economy.

In the face of unprecedented global challenges due to the ongoing pandemic, the new digital service makes it faster and easier for local and international tourism investors to access financing solutions for tourism development projects. The service currently offers corporate lending and treasury investment products with seamless digital onboarding and origination.

The solution is powered by cloud-native Temenos Infinity digital banking platform and Temenos Transact next-generation core on the Oracle Cloud datacenter in Saudi Arabia. With Temenos’ ready-to-go features, modern microservices architecture, and a low-code environment, TDF benefits from speed, agility, and rapid time-to-market. With support from local implementation partner NdcTech, TDF was able to build and launch incrementally, going live with the first phase of the digital service in just two months.

TDF provides tailored financing solutions for investors in the tourism sector with attractive financing rates. Leveraging the pre-built country-specific functions and integration of Temenos Infinity helped the Fund to shorten implementation timelines.

Tourism is one of the main pillars of Saudi economic reforms. The country has opened up to international tourists and foreign investors and hopes the sector will contribute more than 10% of gross domestic product by 2030, up from 3% currently.

Qusai Al Fakhri, CEO, Tourism Development Fund, commented: “With Temenos, we have been able to build a greenfield digital service to serve our investors in record time. The first phase of the project was live within 60 days, and funding is already beginning to flow to tourism projects across the Kingdom. The Tourism Development Fund has a vital role to play in driving the growth of KSA’s tourism sector and in the diversification of our economy. Therefore, it was essential to have a technology partner that shared our vision and ambition. Temenos was the obvious choice. It is the global leader in banking technology with an agile platform and deep expertise that enables us to build rapidly and scale.”

Yasser Alkhathlan, Executive Director - Business Technology, Tourism Development Fund, added: “Temenos has an unmatched reputation in digital banking with many successful projects with financial institutions and lenders in the region. This deep experience and expertise was key to the rapid go live with TDF. With Temenos, we have streamlined access to funding that will advance important tourism projects. Over time, we plan to leverage the rich out-of-the-box banking functionality of the Temenos digital banking platform to continue to enhance the service and customer experience.”

Jean-Paul Mergeai, President – International Sales, Temenos, said: “Launching a digital banking service in less than two months is a fantastic achievement. It shows the dedication and commitment of the Tourism Development Fund and its teams. TDF has bold ambitions, and Temenos’ open and flexible platform will allow TDF to continue innovating at speed and scale in the cloud as it grows. In addition to advanced technology, TDF will benefit from our 25 years of experience in the Middle East working with 120 financial institutions in the region, from digital challengers such as STCPay to the largest banks, including Al Rajhi. Together with TDF, we are proud to make access to funding that will boost tourism investment faster and easier.”

Ammara Masood, CEO and President NdcTech, commented: “Our many years of experience on the Temenos platform allowed us to launch TDF’s system in such a short time on the OCI Cloud. TDF’s team was extremely collaborative, and working together as one team with Temenos made this rapid implementation possible.”

Temenos is the platform of choice for digital banks that want to launch fast. It has over 70 neo and challenger banks worldwide running on its platform, more than any other vendor, and is ranked the top seller in the category in the IBS Intelligence Sales League Table 2021.

Temenos successfully completed the project as part of a consortium led by Almoammar Information Systems (MIS) with National Data Consultants (NdcTech), Temenos’ Saudi specialized implementation partner. Working together, the combined.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Temenos.

Media Contacts: Jessica Wolfe & Scott Rowe Temenos Global Public Relations Tel: +1 610 232 2793 & +44 20 7423 3857 Email: press@temenos.com

Alistair Kellie & Andrew Adie Newgate Communications on behalf of Temenos Tel: +44 20 7680 6550 Email: allnewgatetemenos@newgatecomms.com

About TDF: Building a thriving tourism hub requires strong private sector involvement.

The Tourism Development Fund (TDF) was established in 2019 with a capital of USD 4 billion to drive tourism growth in Saudi Arabia. TDF enables local and international investors looking to benefit from the sector’s high potential by providing viable funding solutions, and leveraging its wide network of partners including government entities, public and private lenders as well as operators and service providers… all deployed to bring investments to life.

Positioned firmly at the heart of Saudi’s tourism ecosystem, TDF is well placed to offer guidance and funding options to SMEs, and tailored investment solutions to qualified investors. The Fund’s vision is to contribute towards achieving the National Tourism Strategy’s objectives by unlocking opportunities in the tourism value chain for private sector investors, while focusing on long-term sustainability.

About Temenos: Temenos AG (SIX: TEMN) is the world’s leader in banking software. Over 3,000 banks across the globe, including 41 of the top 50 banks, rely on Temenos to process both the daily transactions and client interactions of more than 1.2 billion banking customers. Temenos offers cloud-native, cloud-agnostic and AI-driven front office, core banking, payments and fund administration software enabling banks to deliver frictionless, omnichannel customer experiences and gain operational excellence.

Temenos software is proven to enable its top-performing clients to achieve cost-income ratios of 26.8% half the industry average and returns on equity of 29%, three times the industry average. These clients also invest 51% of their IT budget on growth and innovation versus maintenance, which is double the industry average, proving the banks’ IT investment is adding tangible value to their business.

For more information, please visit www.Temenos.com.