Barko, a microfinance firm, intends to foray into the retail banking market of South Africa with a new digital bank.

This digital bank will be built on Temenos Transact and powered by The Temenos Banking Cloud.

Barko plans to tap the complete front-to-back services, thereby providing the new bank with a control to develop banking products.

These products are expected to be easy for consumption, configuration and integration with external applications.

The microlending firm, by leveraging Temenos, intends to provide affordable banking to millions of South Africans underserved by traditional banks.

With the investment in Temenos’ open banking platform, Barko will be able to introduce new banking products, right from deposit and savings accounts to credit and loans, at a low cost as well as quickly.

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The microfinance firm has applied for a Mutual Banking License to run as a full service digital bank.

Barko plans to provide lower-cost loans at longer term, and affordable banking products  besides a seamless experience across its digital and branch channels.

Barko CEO Kobus de Wet said: “We want to build a digital bank for the millions of South Africans that are unbanked or underserved by the traditional banks. The extended collaboration with Temenos is critical to our mission.

“With Temenos modern cloud banking platform we can bring new products to market faster and at a significantly lower cost compared to banks on traditional core banking system.

“Ultimately, this means we can pass on savings with products and services that improve the financial lives of the people that bank with us.”

Barko currently uses Temenos Infinity to provide a seamless omnichannel lending experience with quick access to microfinance through a digital lending app and a network of over 200 branches.

Over 3,000 financial services institutions leverage the open, cloud technology of Temenos.

The Temenos Banking Cloud allows banks and businesses to manage and maintain banking services in a secure and self-service platform.

Leveraging open APIs, banks can not only collaborate but also extend banking services with other fintechs and developers.