Spanish sunshine, high-energy drummers, blue and purple flags, saxophonists, stilt walkers and an interactive AI photo booth welcomed attendees to the annual Temenos Community Forum in Madrid this week – a lively and upbeat backdrop for a company looking to reset its strategy and reconnect with its community.
The Fintech Times joined TCF 2025 to hear from leaders, customers and partners… and to understand where the company is heading next. This year’s theme: ‘leading the way’.
A strategy recast
Under new CEO Jean-Pierre Brulard and chief product & technology officer Barb Morgan, Temenos is recalibrating both its message and execution. Brulard, who joined from VMware in 2024, stepped in following a turbulent period for the company, which included leadership changes and an independent investigation into allegations raised by a short-seller – ultimately dismissed as inaccurate and misleading.
His first priority as CEO was to meet customers and partners around the world to understand what needed to change.
“I was not the best global citizen in terms of carbon footprint,” he said on stage. “I travelled more or less 145,000 miles around the globe, just in a way to listen to you… but it was very well-spent time for me and for the company.”
Brulard said the feedback he received during the tour fell into four consistent themes: the need for growth through technology, better multi-channel customer centricity, greater operational efficiency and stronger risk and compliance controls. Macroeconomic uncertainty, he added, has only made the case for targeted technology investment stronger.
That listening tour is now feeding directly into Temenos’ strategic course. Since late 2023, the company has sold off its Multifonds business, opened an AI Innovation Hub in Florida, appointed a string of new executives and made structural shifts in staffing – reducing headcount in India while increasing its focus on the US and Western Europe. It has also committed to new growth targets through to 2028, with a focus on SaaS, flexible core solutions and recurring revenue.
‘Not in the boardroom’
Morgan’s keynote felt grounded and practical, reflecting the customer feedback she says has defined her first months in the role. “We’re going to build less, but we’re going to build it better,” she told attendees. “We shaped our new mission – leading banking forward – not in the boardroom, but with our customers, our partners, and our people.”
Appointed in late 2024, Morgan joined Temenos from the London Stock Exchange Group, bringing experience in product and technology leadership across firms like FIS, Capital One and Boeing. Her focus on customer-centric innovation came across clearly.
She spoke directly about the feedback Temenos has received. “Real partnerships aren’t built on silence, they’re built on honesty,” she said. “We’re still listening, but we’re engaging earlier. And instead of simply following requirements, we’re going to lead with expertise and insight.”
She described a shift from measuring output to focusing on real-world outcomes. “In banking, 99 per cent isn’t enough,” she said. “People’s money, identity and trust are on the line every single time.”
Her three priorities for the product team are resilient, high-performing platforms; faster time-to-value; and more intuitive user experiences.
Temenos, she said, is becoming more intentional in how it allocates R&D investment, doubling down on strategic products that deliver long-term impact. “When we announce products, it’s going to mean one of three things: it’s live, it’s in private preview, or it’s being actively co-developed with our customers, with guaranteed general availability within six months.”
AI… innovation with guardrails
Like almost every tech event we’ve attended over the past year, it didn’t take long for AI to top the agenda.
Morgan guided attendees through Temenos’s approach, unveiling two flagship AI products: the FCM AI Agent, a compliance engine that uses advanced AI to reduce false positives and evaluate screening alerts in real time augmenting human capabilities, and the Temenos Product Manager Copilot, empowering banks to design, launch, test and optimise financial products faster using generative AI.
Both tools were developed through Temenos’ Design Partner Programme: an initiative that throws banks, developers and even spaghetti into the same room to co-create real-world solutions at speed.
Christine Huberty of Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (BIL), who joined Morgan on stage, described the collaborative process behind developing the FCM AI Agent as “really, really fun”.
“We had very intensive workshops with games and team building exercises involving spaghetti. It was a new way of having all people working together and make sure that from the beginning, the business is happy with what we are developing, and that we are really addressing the points that we can have.”
Meanwhile, Commerce Bank and Varo Bank helped develop the Co-Pilot tool, which was demoed on stage using Microsoft Teams. A fictional product manager was able to analyse customer segments, generate overdraft pricing structures and assess regulatory risk, all via natural language prompts.
From insight to action
Over two days of sessions at TCF 2025, Temenos, its partners and customers explored more ways how its new strategies are being put into practice.
Temenos CRO Will Moroney talked about the company’s customer and partner engagement model, pointing to a delivery-led structure backed by over 8,000 people across its ecosystem. He was joined on stage by Marnix Tummers of ABN AMRO and Paul Weiss of Regions Bank, who discussed what strong collaboration looks like in practice.
Isabelle Guis, who joined Temenos as chief marketing officer in July last year, shared insights from a global study by Hanover Research of 424 business and technology leaders in financial services that signals a shift in banking priorities.
“Like Jean-Pierre, Barb and Will, I’ve spent time listening, really listening, to you,” she said. “You shared your ambition of moving faster, innovating smarter and better serving your customer, but you also voiced concerns on how to balance innovation and risk… and how to make sure your technology partners help you lead with resilience, not just keep up.”
Her session highlighted rising investment in digital transformation and AI: 84 per cent of banking leaders surveyed said they are increasing investment in technology to protect their customers and 81 per cent also said the same for improving operational efficiency.
Voices from the ecosystem
Christian Sarafidis, chief executive, EMEA Financial Services at Microsoft, used his keynote to explore the capabilities of agentic and generative AI. He closed with a reminder that innovation means more than incremental change: “The electric light didn’t come from the continuous improvement of the candle.”
Dr Jonnie Penn of the University of Cambridge offered an enjoyable counterbalance, calling for reflection on AI’s ethical implications and long-term impact.
“Nobody has a textbook on this topic. There’s no 101, no cheat sheet that gives you all the answers,” he said. “You have to work together, like scientists in a lab, to figure it out. But if you can do that, and find value and trust, you’re well positioned to succeed.”
Dan Broten of EQ Bank outlined a data-driven approach to customer personalisation, while Will Wright of Santander International shared lessons from moving off a legacy core.
We also chatted to Temenos’ product director for financial crime, Adam Gable, who discussed the development of its AI development work.
“It’s not about solving abstract challenges… we’re building solutions in situ, with real institutions, under regulatory scrutiny.”
That’s entertainment
Outside the formal sessions, the forum kept up a celebratory edge. Delegates tested out an AI-powered photo booth (with effects from surrealism to city banker), and gathered for a gala dinner under blue skies at the Castillo de Viñuelas, a 17th-century estate set in a protected natural park.
Temenos remains in a period of change, and much of what’s promised is still in motion. But its leadership appears to be sending a consistent message: transformation is underway and customer co-creation is central to what comes next.
