Success Stories

Powering Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

At a Glance

• Greenfield corporate bank established to support Saudi Arabia’s non-oil export sector.

• Temenos Core deployed, including Corporate Lending, as well as Trade Finance, and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) modules.

• IFRS module implemented in 3 months.

• Plans underway to extend Temenos footprint with new modules, including Temenos Payments Hub and Temenos Data Hub.

Saudi EXIM Bank was established in 2020 with a clear vision – to support and accelerate the growth of non-oil Saudi businesses in international markets. Its creation is a key part of the Kingdom’s ‘Vision 2030’ strategy to diversify its economy, and reports to the National Development Fund. It provides export credit, trade finance, and lending solutions to Saudi enterprises seeking global expansion.

Start with the best

Entering into an already competitive market, Saudi EXIM knew that technology would be a key differentiator.

Commonality was also important. As a greenfield bank with no legacy, EXIM had the luxury of mandating a single core banking solution across its entire business. That meant a platform with a wide breadth of capabilities – transaction management, credit administration and approvals, asset management, customer data analysis and risk management being some of the key ones that the bank evaluated solutions against.

EXIM shortlisted Temenos Core because of its reputation in the market. From there, the platform stood out in a number of regards, recalls Ahmed. A user-friendly interface and navigation provided the bank with confidence that Temenos would be easily adopted by users. Integration with third-party software would allow for automation; a capability that has been applied to customer onboarding and credit risk. And expectations for constant innovations have already been realized. “In every new release there are valuable additions,” says Ahmed.

Flexibility and control

EXIM went live with Temenos Core in January 2023 initially deploying Corporate Lending and Trade Finance, supported by Temenos Islamic banking features. The in-built flexibility of the Temenos’ Corporate Lending capability has allowed the bank to create tailored products for different markets, most notably for compliance with Sharia law. With proven success, the bank now has an ongoing development roadmap of specially configured corporate lending products.

Conversely, EXIM is using Temenos’ Trade Finance in its out-of-the-box format. As Ahmed notes, the ready-to-use nature of the module meant that they could add it into the initial implementation scope, without adding complexity. The bank is using Trade Finance primarily to source letters of credit and guarantees.

The agility of Temenos’ solution was further tested when the bank’s finance team asked for support adapting to international accounting standards. Temenos provided an expert in this field, who worked with the bank to understand its specific needs. Within three months of that request, the bank had also activated the platform’s International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) module, a first for the region with the bank now enabled to configure solutions for specific markets.

It speaks to how the bank leverages the expertise and diligence of Temenos from within the platform.

Temenos Core also serves as the data hub for all analysis that the bank performs, from customer onboarding numbers to productivity measures. “We now have a single source of truth, without the need for any manual intervention, which has been one of the key objectives of the bank from the start.”

Accelerating transformation

Innovation has been the ultimate prize; the ability to launch new products into the market at rapid speed. This has been reflected in the numbers. Today, the bank has over 300 accounts, across more than 100 corporate customers.

Its customers are highly satisfied with the bank’s collaboration, which has supported their objectives from the beginning by enabling quick and efficient onboarding, providing timely transaction advice and notifications, and helping them better plan and manage their cashflows. This partnership has been instrumental in achieving their financial goals. What’s more, Ahmed’s team is receiving more and more requests from the bank’s different business units to adapt products and create new ones, evidence that everyone understands the capabilities they possess.

Alongside the technology, EXIM also values the personal side of its partnership with Temenos.

Those conversations are now focussed on expanding how Temenos can help the bank through Temenos Payments Hub and Temenos Data Hub.

Ahmed emphasises this strategic advantage: “With Temenos Core, we’re not just running a bank – we’re enabling Saudi businesses to compete globally with world-class financial services. With Temenos, we have the technology to scale our impact and continue to be a catalyst of growth for years to come.”