AllenHark Group in Ksh 3.2 billion deal with Mambu to bring banking 3.0 to Kenya

The AllenHark Group signed a partnership deal with Germany’s Mambu on May 20, 2015 making it an innovation & integration partner for East Africa.

The signing happened during the Banking 3.0 Executive Breakfast held at Serena Hotel in Nairobi. AllenHark plans to use Mambu’s exceptional Cloud Banking software in their newly launched Allensuite, which is an all-in-one Integrated Banking platform targeted at Banks, MFIs & Credit unions in the region.

The executive breakfast was attended by over 100 CEOs, CFOs & CIOs from financial institutions in Kenya. In a panel comprised of Premier Credit CEO Tim Carson, Consulting Director at KPMG Kenya Dr. Joseph Muga, Head of Products and Services at Safaricom Mr. Ken Okwero and COO of Mambu Mr. Frederik Pfisterer, the advent of Banking 3.0 was discussed at length as a new banking model that would enhance service delivery to customers, cut technology spending for organizations and increase their visibility into their operations.

The new platform is called Allensuite and will include a Core Banking System (Mambu) that will now come pre-packaged with Mobile Money integration, SMS Banking, Automated Payments Disbursement and even a GPS visualization engine for Data-driven customer acquisition.

“All this functionality will be available on day 1. No more long integration processes that take months. Everything works seamlessly right out of the box.” says Kageni Wilson, Founding Partner, AllenHark Group. “The best part however is the affordable cost. Unlike other Core Banking and MIS systems which cost anywhere from 50 million to 500 million shillings to acquire, Allensuite has no upfront cost. You pay as you go and depending on the size of your organization. This makes it incredibly affordable to every size of financial institution ranging from banks to MFIs and even SACCOs.”

AllenHark says the Allensuite integrated banking platform is designed specifically for Banking 3.0 and will offer the financial institutions utilizing it a huge edge in terms of improved service delivery to customers and a whole new level of visibility into and control over their operations.

“You don’t need to buy servers and go to the hassle of maintaining them yourself. We store your data in redundant data centers which means there is no risk of losing access to it and comply with the highest standards of security as our system is ISO certified and independently audited by both Ernst & Young and KPMG to ensure it is secure.” Says Mambu’s Chief Operating Officer Mr. Frederik Pfisterer. “This solution was built with Africa in mind and for areas where connectivity problems exist, the system has an offline mode for devices through which agents on the ground can conduct business and automatically sync with the rest of the system whenever connectivity returns.”

The deal is worth an estimated $33 million (Ksh. 3.2 Billion) over the next 5 years.

“This is a long term partnership and in such a vibrant market where needs are rapidly evolving it is prudent to have a highly capable partner on the ground who can offer reliable solutions to solve these problems. For us, AllenHark is that partner. We have the cloud banking system and AllenHark has everything else required to make this system work for financial institutions in East Africa. We really look forward to rolling out the Allensuite Integrated Banking Platform with them and demonstrating the power and value of the platform through the growth and success of our customers in the region.” COO of Mambu, Frederik Pfisterer.

One of the institutions already using the platform is Kenya’s Premier Credit.

According to the CEO Tim Carson who spoke on the panel, this is the best technology platform for growth. Premier Credit started operating in Kenya in January 2014. Barely 17 months later, they have over 13 branches and serve over 11, 000 customers and have already expanded into Uganda where they have another 5, 000 customers and counting.

“When we were starting up last year we looked at all the options available in the market and none of them came close to this. The cost of acquisition is extremely low and yet the amazing power of this system is such that we have been able to give same-day loans disbursed via mobile money. The loan officer visits your business premises and fills out a simple loan application form. They then take a picture of you, and a picture of the application form and send it to the office in an instant. Two hours later, you receive your loan via mobile money. It is extremely efficient and has had a huge role to play in Premier Credit’s great service delivery thus far. We are excited to work with AllenHark to push the envelope even further using the Allensuite platform.” Premier Credit CEO Tim Carson.

“The financial movement in Kenya is the most vibrant in the region and we see tremendous growth opportunities for these institutions throughout East Africa if they have the right tools for the job. The Allensuite Integrated Banking 3.0 platform is the right tool for this particular job and we look forward to working with Mambu for the growth and prosperity of our ambitious clients.” Kageni Wilson, Founding Partner, AllenHark Group.