Interswitch, the Nigerian digital payments and commerce company, has announced a partnership with the Swiss banking software firm Temenos to expand its portfolio of digital banking services across Africa. The collaboration, announced on June 15, 2026, will see Interswitch integrate Temenos Banking Cloud into its service offerings, enabling it to provide a broader suite of digital banking solutions to financial institutions on the continent.

The partnership is designed to allow Interswitch to offer its clients, which include banks and other financial service providers, a more comprehensive digital transformation toolkit. By leveraging Temenos's cloud-native platform, Interswitch aims to help these institutions accelerate the launch of new digital products and services, from core banking and payments to data analytics and compliance tools. This move is seen as a strategic expansion for Interswitch beyond its traditional strength in payments processing and switching.

Mitchell Elegbe, founder and group managing director of Interswitch, stated that the alliance is a response to the growing demand for sophisticated, scalable digital banking infrastructure in Africa.

Our partnership with Temenos allows us to offer a more holistic set of solutions that address the entire digital banking value chain,

Elegbe was quoted as saying. The initiative is expected to target both established banks seeking to modernize and newer digital-only entrants looking for a robust technological foundation.

The announcement comes amid a period of intensified activity in Africa's fintech sector, where partnerships between local platforms and global technology providers are becoming increasingly common as a strategy to deepen service offerings and scale rapidly. Interswitch, founded in 2002, operates one of Africa's largest domestic card schemes, Verve, and processes transactions across the continent. Its collaboration with a global player like Temenos reflects a broader trend of African fintechs integrating world-class software to compete more effectively.

Separately, other African fintech companies are pursuing different strategic paths to growth and market expansion. On the same day, the payments orchestration platform Yuno announced a partnership with Onafriq, formerly known as MFS Africa, to simplify cross-border payment acceptance for global merchants targeting African consumers. Meanwhile, Nigerian fintech Paga revealed new partnerships with Crossmint and the Sui blockchain to accelerate its push into stablecoin payments and blockchain-based financial services, indicating the diverse technological avenues being explored across the sector.

Interswitch's tie-up with Temenos is positioned to capitalize on the ongoing digital transformation within Africa's financial services industry, where regulators in many countries are pushing for greater financial inclusion and innovation. The ability to offer a packaged digital banking platform could help Interswitch secure deeper, more strategic relationships with financial institutions, moving from a transactional partner to a core technology provider. The success of this venture will likely depend on the platform's adaptability to varied regulatory environments and the specific operational challenges faced by banks in different African markets.