At the 17^th annual Temenos Community Forum – Temenos , the software specialist for banking and finance, today announces an agreement with two Philippines-based ACCU member organisations, National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) and Philippine Federation of Credit Cooperatives (PFCCO) to provide a cloud-based banking and payment service, known as the ACCU Payment Platform (APP). The service will run on the Microsoft Cloud.

With this move, NATCCO and PFCCO, which jointly represent 6.5 million customers, are kicking off a regional strategy developed by ACCU to modernise and standardise the credit union sector in Asia through a common payments platform for its credit members. 

Describing the rationale for launching its digital payments strategy, Elenita V San Roque, ACCU CEO, said: "Credit unions in Asia have a unique opportunity to take advantage of their established network to bring modern mobile payments to their members. In collaboration with Temenos, credit unions across the Philippines can now have access to their own mobile banking and payments network where a member can be served anywhere there is a credit union office, agent or ATM. A member is now a member of the credit union network, not just the branch where he or she lives. We look forward to expanding this strategy through the rest of our members."

ACCU’s network of Credit Unions represents 38 million people in Asia and by endorsing this platform ACCU is providing leadership to their industry, setting an example to the 7000 credit unions in 105 countries who are affiliated with the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), most of which are in emerging markets.

Sylvia O. Paraguya, NATCCO CEO, added:  “The Philippines is a leading digital nation in Asia, with more mobile connections than people. Banks, MNOs and other non-traditional entrants are using these channels to engage and attack our members’ services. We knew we had to develop our own strategy and with it a platform that was owned by the cooperatives for the cooperatives. ”

The ACCU Payment Platform comprises Temenos’ MicroBanking Suite and Software Group’s UT Suite, and which runs on Microsoft Cloud technology.  The platform provides services such as account top up, cash withdrawal, conditional cash transfer, bill payments, peer to peer including international remittances, which can be offered over any distribution channel.

Commenting on its selection decision, Atty. Gloria G. Futalan, PFCCO Chair, said: “We wanted partners with a proven track record in getting it right. Our platform will allow us to provide the highest quality services using the same tools as the most advanced banks and MNOs in the world. We look forward to sharing these with our members.”

Karen Cone, Worldwide General Manager Financial Services at Microsoft, commented: “The Microsoft Cloud offers a low cost, secure and scalable platform for NATCCO and PFCCO customers to make payments wherever they are and using whatever device they choose, bringing massive improvements in convenience and improving the lives of millions of people across the Philippines.” 

Murray Gardiner, Temenos Business Director for MicroBanking. remarked: “We are very excited to be working with ACCU members NATCCO and PFCCO to build out a modern payments infrastructure for credit unions in Philippines. Credit unions can now be independent of 3rd party payments services and control their own destiny by capturing the spend members make on mobile payments within the credit union system, rather than with competing financial institutions and MNOs.  It is also by far the biggest project to date using the Microsoft Cloud, demonstrating growing acceptance of cloud based technology in financial services.”