Temenos in leadership shake-up as CEO and chairman step down
Core banking tech heavyweight Temenos is searching for a new chief executive officer (CEO) following the resignation of Max Chuard, a 20-year Temenos veteran and its most recent CEO.
Max Chuard steps down as CEO of Temenos; search for new CEO underway
The vendor says its board of directors is considering both internal and external candidates and the position is expected to be filled by the end of 2023 at the latest.
“Throughout my roles, including CFO, COO and finally CEO, I have seen the company grow from strength to strength,” comments Chuard.
He highlights the progress the company has made over the last four years to transition to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) under his leadership.
In 2022, Temenos moved to selling five-year subscription contracts for on-premise licence and maintenance as standard, including for renewals.
“The transition to subscription licensing is continuing at pace and our SaaS business is reaching critical mass and is increasingly underpinning both the revenue and profitability visibility,” Chuard says.
According to preliminary Q4 2022 results (the full Q4 and annual results will be released on 20 February), 48% of licence revenue in that quarter was signed as subscription – $47.3 million of non-IFRS subscription licences.
The move to subscription licensing is penned for completion by the end of 2023.
SaaS revenue was up 36% in Q4 – non-IFRS SaaS revenue of $45.7 million – driven by a mix of new business and existing clients.
Chuard says that now is “the natural time” for him to step down.
Executive chairman Andreas Andreades will assume duties as acting CEO until the new appointment is made.
Also, after 24 years at Temenos and following a two-year succession plan process to hand over chair responsibilities, Andreades will not be standing for re-election as executive chairman at the next annual general meeting (AGM).
Temenos in key leadership shake-up
Thibault de Tersant, who is currently an independent and non-executive director and vice-chairman at Temenos, is proposed by the board to be elected as non-executive chairman at the next AGM.
“It is with great confidence that I will hand over chair responsibilities to Thibault de Tersant at the upcoming AGM,” Andreades says. “He shares my passion in establishing Temenos as the catalyst to transform the banking software market.”
De Tersant describes the departing chairman as “the driving force behind taking Temenos from a small private company with less than 150 people to becoming the leading banking platform company” and among the largest in Europe.
Andreades’ contribution to this is “undisputed”, he states.
Under the new leadership, Temenos will focus on the “huge” SaaS opportunity, including in the US, de Tersant says.
There were also other senior leadership announcements, including Prema Varadhan being promoted to president product and chief operating officer (COO), and Philip Barnett being promoted to president Americas and member of the management board.
In November last year, Petrus Advisers, an activist shareholder in Temenos, sent a harsh letter to the banking tech firm’s non-executive directors of the board criticising the company’s leadership, strategy and execution, and calling on the resignation of the CEO and executive chairman.
Just a month prior to that, Temenos cut its 2022 guidance and saw the departure of its chief revenue officer after a brief seven-month stint at the firm.
