TEMENOS Group says Al Salam Bank, a newly-formed Islamic bank in Bahrain, has bought the TEMENOS T24 platform to support its universal banking operations. TEMENOS T24 is the company’s modular core banking system.
Al Salam Bank was established in April 2006 in the Kingdom of Bahrain and operates under an Islamic banking license issued by the Bahrain Monetary Agency. The bank needed a system to support the establishment of its head office operations and with the scalability to facilitate its strategy of future regional expansion. The bank’s requirements also included the ability to develop and deliver a range of Sharia-compliant financial products.
Yousif Taqi, CEO, Al Salam Bank, says: “In order to establish ourselves as a global force in the Islamic financial services industry, it is critically important to ensure that we have the right technological foundation. We are committed to providing clients with innovative and differentiated Sharia-compliant products and services through the utilisation of the latest available technology and in line with the highest international standards in the industry.”
“We chose TEMENOS because of its excellent track record in the Middle East region, having completed implementations for several Islamic banks. We were also impressed and reassured by TEMENOS’ significant investment in R&D, which ensures TEMENOS T24 remains the most advanced system available.”
TEMENOS has a policy to invest in its technology. In 2005, the company invested18.3% of its revenues in R&D, totaling US$30.9 million, and since 2002 has invested over US$130 million.
During the three-mon the valuation period, Al Salam Bank considered a number of leading providers of core banking systems for Islamic banks before signing the deal with TEMENOS in August 2006. TEMENOS’ open technology gives the bank the flexibility to choose the most appropriate platform and database for its needs. The system will run on HP servers in the bank’s Bahrain head office with Oracle 10Gdatabase software. TEMENOS will install core TEMENOS T24 functionality, including Islamic, retail, corporate, treasury, trade and private banking capabilities.
Andreas And reades, CEO,TEMENOS, adds: “This is the latest in a successful line of projects for us in the Islamic banking sector. Al Salam Bank joins a growing list of financial institutions in the Middle East, including Saudi Hollandi Bank and Finance House, which are utilising our core banking technology to compete successfully in this rapidly growing and competitive market.”
According to the latest International Banking Systems sales league table, published in March 2006,TEMENOS has the largest core banking client base in the world with a stated 600 live sites.