Judo Bank, which last year achieved the second largest pre-revenue fundraising round in Australian start-up history (AUD140m), runs on Temenos Cloud hosted on Microsoft Azure.

Judo Bank’s ‘judo strategy’ outmaneuvers the incumbent banks by using the nimbleness of its modern technology to rejuvenate the dying craft of artisan business lending.

Judo Bank has built a system that enables traditional relationship banking backed by modern, legacy-free technology, processes and systems. Lending decisions are based on the performance of the business; not just the value of the available security, or “collateral” that the incumbent banks concentrate on.

The implementation took place in record time due to the speed, elasticity and flexibility offered by the cloud, allowing Judo Bank to focus on supporting businesses across Australia rather than managing IT systems.

Leveraging advanced API-first architecture, Temenos T24 Transact has integrated with Judo’s existing systems via its zero-trust-network and identity management system, allowing third-parties to connect easily and creating an open banking ecosystem.

Temenos assisted Judo in obtaining a full banking license with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) through its Australian Model Bank approach, with preconfigured country-specific functionality, allowing Judo to focus on its business in the knowledge that local regulatory requirements, business best practices and cost-efficient processes were already built-in.

Alex Twigg, Co-Founder and CIO, Judo Bank said: “We selected Temenos as our strategic technology partner to help us with our goal to become the most trusted business bank in Australia. Temenos worked closely with us from the beginning, and with its cloud-native digital front and back office products enabled us to launch fast and with a low risk implementation. This allows us to cut through traditional bureaucracies and the sales-driven and property-secured status quo to transform SME banking in Australia through a focus on close customer relationships.”

Max Chuard, Chief Executive Officer, Temenos, said: “We worked closely with Judo Bank’s agile and passionate team to go live in record time. The pace of regulatory change in Australia combined with transformational cloud-native banking software - Temenos Infinity and Temenos Transact - has made new business models possible, and Judo’s customers are the ultimate winners. We are proud to be partnering with Judo to re-shape the Australian banking landscape.”

Janet Lewis, vice president, Worldwide Financial Services at Microsoft Corp. said: “Through our relationship with Temenos - which was the first banking software company to launch a core banking offering on Microsoft Azure in 2011 - Judo Bank is challenging the conventional SME banking experience. Judo is benefitting from high levels of performance and scalability along with the security, privacy and compliance offered by operating in the cloud.”

Temenos recently reached a major milestone with the launch of Temenos Infinity - a breakthrough digital front office product and Temenos T24 Transact, the next generation in core banking. These new products further demonstrate a commitment to constant innovation with the most advanced cloud-native, cloud-agnostic, API-first technology and design-led thinking.