Cullinane joined Temenos from rival Misys in 2004, becoming COO in 2006 but the two parties have now "agreed to terminate their relationship" as of yesterday, says a statement, which adds that the firm "values highly the contribution and achievements" of its former staffer.

Last summer the vendor's CEO, Guy Dubois left after only a year in the job, prompting a management reshuffle and the instillation of long-standing CFO David Arnott at the top.

After a tough few years, Temenos has also reported encouraging fourth quarter results, prompting its share price to rise more than 10% in morning trading.

Fourth quarter revenue was $134.2 million, six per cent up on the same period the previous year while licence revenue shot up was 17% to $47.9 million. Nevertheless, for the year, total revenue was down five per cent at $450.2 million and licence revenue was 14% lower than the previous year at $125.1 million.

Says Arnott: "2012 was a year of transition and we finished with strong momentum going into 2013, having laid the foundations in the second half of the year for sustained growth...2013 will see strong growth in revenue and profitability, underpinned by maintenance growth and lower costs which are already locked-in."