ADDIS ABABA: Cloud-based banking has arrived in Kenya as Fountain Credit Services has become the first institution in the East African country to run cloud operations, the company said in a press release. The company, a microfinance institution in Kenya, has officially launched the Temenos T24 for microfinancing that is being hosted in cloud. Fountain believes that by using cloud, it will help reduce initial capital output for start-up costs as well as reducing operating costs through its “pay-per-use" model. It comes as the company hopes to continue its rapid expansion, with new users and branches being added to the T24 system, run by Microsoft's Azure platform. The cloud model gives Fountain the demonstrated “viability of performing credit and lending in the cloud without an on-premise system," the company said, adding that it is the “trend likely to become commonplace among banks and other financial services providers in the region." Commenting on the launch of the microfinance software, Arch. John Kithaka, CEO, FEP Group (Fountain Enterprises Program) said: “We chose the cloud solution from Temenos as they offer a complete managed service and incremental upgrades that meet our demands. Our vision for launching Fountain Credit Services Ltd was to deliver the best possible services and products to our customers – Temenos T24 Microfinance and Community Banking (MCB) enables us to do exactly that. T24 MCB is a secure and robust system that will enable us to tackle fraud effectively. Procuring T24 from the cloud brings with it huge economic benefits and provides Fountain with the scalability and flexibility to grow with our customers' demands." David Arnott, CEO, Temenos said: “Fountain is a true pioneer, being the first Kenyan financial institution to launch with such a configuration. Relieving the institution of upfront and ongoing core system maintenance will allow it to focus on best serving its customers. As Fountain grows and brings more branches online in 2013, it can obtain the new applications and products to meet this demand from the cloud – essentially creating a self-funding platform for the MFI. Deploying new services incrementally maximizes the profitability of Fountain and provides the institution with the foundation to build new revenues from different sections of the market as its business matures."
