Temenos Expands U.S. Footprint with $245 Million Acquisition of Avoka

Banking software provider Temenos announced Wednesday it will acquire Avoka , a Colorado-based firm focused on digital customer acquisition and onboarding, for $245 million. The acquisition, subject to regulatory approval, would bolster Temenos’s Digital Front Office product, which the company says has over 300 banking clients. The Switzerland-based company would also gain considerably more visibility in the U.S. market. This deal comes on the heels of Q2 Holdings's acquisition of Gro Solutions earlier this month, capping off an explosive year for digital account opening. Don Bergal, Chief Marketing Officer for Avoka, told FinAi News that Avoka, recognizing a need to scale up (and fast), approached Temenos. He said the deal just seemed to be a natural fit for both companies. Avoka, he said, gets a considerably larger suite of products to work with as well as the resources necessary to accelerate its own product development to keep up with a fast-growing market. Temenos, in the meantime, gets stronger front office/customer acquisition tools to complement its back-end product offerings as well as the expanded footprint in the U.S. "It’s really a great match between two companies that have very consistent product architectures, very consistent cultures, and similar visions for the financial services market," Bergal said. One of the keys in reaching a deal, he said, was that Avoka and Temenos are digital bankers plain and simple. "We have the same vision for where the industry is going, and people-wise, it’s a very consistent culture, as opposed to getting pulled into something that’s completely disparate," he said. "It felt good." Bergal said Avoka clients can expect business as usual for now and to continue working with the same people, processes, customer support as before. He said staff and leadership will be staying on at Avoka through the transition and beyond, and will report to Temenos's managing director for the digital product suite. "It’s all growth," he said. "It’s all about growing and expanding, it’s not about consolidating." He said it would probably be three months before the first integrations go live. "Architecturally, the products are actually very compatible," Bergal said. "The interfaces are all built on open APIs, so there are natural places where the two products plug into each other." Temenos said in a release that the Avoka platform will be integrated with its Digital Front Office suite, “providing banks with a comprehensive single solution for their omni-channel digital banking needs.” More than 85 Avoka clients are largely served through a SaaS model hosted on the cloud and serves all key banking segments including retail, corporate and wealth, according to the release. Through the acquisition, the company said its Digital Front Office product will now include services such as origination, channels, analytics, payments, risk and compliance and real-time event based marketing, all of which can be deployed either on premise or in the cloud. The firms said Avoka’s clients, such as a top-tier bank, increased new account opening by 60% and shortened customer time to onboard by nearly 70%. Another major bank created an adviser-assisted, tablet-based loan application, from kickoff to launch in just 60 days, they said. In a statement, Max Chuard, CFO and COO for Temenos, touted the deal’s potential to strengthen the company’s position in the U.S. market, “where we are seeing significant traction as banks accelerate their digital transformation plans.” He continued: “Avoka is a market leader and is experiencing strong growth as banks invest in creating outstanding customer acquisition and onboarding experiences. The combination of Avoka’s capabilities along with the extensive Temenos Digital Front Office product offers banks the most complete set of services, which, through APIs, can be easily integrated either with the market-leading Temenos T24 Core Banking product or as a standalone on a third party banking system.” Avoka CEO Philip Copeland said in a statement that by combining his company’s strengths with Temenos’ expertise and reach, “we will expand our scope and scale to deliver winning omni-channel, digital experience solutions to banks globally.” The transaction is due to be completed by early 1Q19. The purchase will be funded through cash and debt, Temenos said. According to the release, Avoka’s total revenue grew about 30% in 2018 and is expected to grow at the same rate in 2019, to reach $50 million, with 50% of total revenue from recurring SaaS product revenues.

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Temenos Expands U.S. Footprint with $245 Million Acquisition of Avoka

Movers and Shakers: Notable December Hires in Financial Services

Fintech Unfiltered: Inside HSBC Bank USA’s Lofty Innovation Strategy for 2018 [Podcast]

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