Vast quantities of customer data flow into banks every day and leveraging this data is key to securing growth in the modern banking landscape. The challenge that banks and other financial services providers face is how to securely unlock that data and use it to develop new revenue streams.
This is the key driver for many modernization and digital transformation projects being undertaken by traditional or legacy banks who need to fend of competitive threats from cloud-native challenger banks, fintechs and tech new market entrants.
At the forefront of empowering banks with modern solutions is Temenos, a globally renowned provider of banking software. Temenos offers a robust platform designed to help banks and financial services providers of all sizes meet the complexities of today’s banking environment. It is with great pleasure that we announce comforte AG as the latest addition to the Temenos banking ecosystem, joining as a proud member of the Exchange Network. This collaboration follows the successful completion of a joint Proof of Concept (POC) that demonstrated the inherent value of data-centric security in safeguarding sensitive data on Temenos infrastructure.
Both comforte AG and Temenos share the belief that data protection and privacy are of critical importance in the financial services industry. In this short post we will take a look at some of the capabilities Temenos offer and how data-centric security can enhance the benefits and value derived by their bank customers.
The Temenos Banking Platform
Temenos software solutions are offered as SaaS on Temenos Banking Cloud or self-manged on public cloud or on-prem for their 3,000 bank and financial institutions customers across 150 countries. This software empowers banks, granting them access to tools that foster the creation of innovative and relevant banking experiences. This not only increases operating margins but also paves the way for continuous investments in further innovation, ultimately to the benefit of customers.
The Temenos Exchange forms an ecosystem to bring new products to market faster, and at scale. Comforte’s data protection solution joins the other curated and approved solutions enabling banks to accelerate the creation of new financial services, while reducing the costs of development.
For Temenos customers, sensitive data – such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) – can now be easily protected using comforte’s patented format preserving encryption and tokenization technology. What sets this method of protection apart is its ability to maintain compatibility and usability with analytics tools and other functionalities without increasing risk. This approach not only ensures data privacy but also facilitates compliance with regulations such as GDPR and PCI DSS. By eliminating the link to sensitive data, it prevents exposure in the event of a data breach, safeguarding both the customers and the institutions they entrust.
Next let’s examine some of the specific areas where access to effectively protected data will add value for Temenos customers.
The importance of data in modern financial services
In the rapidly evolving landscape of modern financial services, marked by the rise of digital-first banking, soaring transaction volumes, innovative business models, fintech advancements, GDPR compliance, open banking initiatives, and the omnipresent cybersecurity threats, banks find themselves at a pivotal juncture. It’s imperative for them to adopt a resolute and strategic stance towards data management.
The benefits to banks of making more effective use of data:
Customer-Centric Banking:
The digital revolution demands personalized, seamless banking experiences that can only be achieved by optimizing how data is used. Adapting to this shift is essential, as customers now expect individualized journeys beyond mere transactions.
Operational Efficiency:
Banking operations are transitioning from traditional to real-time systems. Modern core banking technologies enable secure operations like expedited payment reconciliations, enhancing efficiency and information security that are hindered when data is siloed in legacy systems.
Fraud Detection:
Modern core banking systems improve the customer experience around fraud detection based on more accurate and available data.
Regulatory Compliance:
Stricter regulations necessitate streamlined, cost-effective compliance approaches enabled by better use of data security such as via access and policy controls.
However, despite the evident advantages, the financial industry still grapples with maximizing data’s potential for improving customer outcomes. Banks have been relatively slow to embrace cloud computing compared to other sectors. This hesitation is reflected in the concerns voiced by a significant quarter of bank executives, citing security as a major hurdle to their digital transformation efforts, as reported by Forrester.
Key areas for added value for Temenos customers using comforte's data-centric security
Efficient Workload Migration: Enhanced data security ensures a swift and secure migration of critical workloads to the Temenos platform. This capability enables banks to adhere to project timelines and budgets during their digital transformation initiatives. Moreover, it allows the full utilization of Temenos platform features and integration with third-party solutions.
Granular Access Controls: Role-based access controls, ensure the safeguarding of sensitive data at the element level. This approach implements a robust zero-trust and privacy-by-default strategy directly into the data itself. Consequently, banks can confidently share data internally and across borders.
Enhanced Data Utilization: By securely unlocking a wealth of data, banks can make more informed decisions, optimize use of the Temenos platform’s capabilities and securely use third-party tools.
Comforte`s data-centric solutions extend beyond safeguarding credit card numbers and payment processing information to encompass the comprehensive spectrum of customer data. With over 25 years of expertise, Comforte has safeguarded data flows on mission-critical systems for some of the world’s largest banks and Payment Service Providers (PSPs). Notably, the company has played a pivotal role in securing 60% of all global credit card transaction data for industry giants including Visa, Mastercard, and others.
You can find out more about the comforte Data Security Platform here or contact us to start a conversation about your data protection requirements.
