Al Salam Bank selects TEMENOS T24™ to launch Islamic banking operations
06 September 2006
GENEVA, Switzerland – 6 September 2006 - TEMENOS Group (SWX: TEMN), the provider of integrated core banking systems, today announced that Al Salam Bank, a newly-formed Islamic bank in Bahrain, has selected TEMENOS T24 to support its universal banking operations. TEMENOS T24, the company’s modular core banking system, will enable the bank to provide a full range of Islamic banking services, introduce new products quickly and expand into additional markets.
Al Salam Bank was established in April 2006 in the Kingdom of Bahrain and operates under an Islamic banking licence 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 consistent policy to invest substantially in its technology. In 2005, the company invested 18.3% of its revenues in R&D, totalling US$30.9 million, and since 2002 has invested over US$130 million.
During the three-month evaluation 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 10G database software. TEMENOS will install core TEMENOS T24 functionality, including Islamic, retail, corporate, treasury, trade and private banking capabilities.
TEMENOS T24 is a functionally rich, thin client, scalable, integrated, modular banking system. It is built on open service oriented architecture, and uses established standards such as HTTP, XML and J2EE. It offers a single client view across the enterprise and can support large numbers of users with true non-stop resilience. Its fully-integrated architecture enables it to offer a significant cost advantage compared to other competing products. It offers multiple application server support and is the only system available with no end-of-day batch processing and so can genuinely boast of providing realtime 24/7 non-stop banking.
Andreas Andreades, 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. The company continues to attract global tier 1 and regional banks as a result of its superior products, TEMENOS T24 and TEMENOS™ COREBANKING.
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About Al Salam Bank
Established on 17 April 2006 in the Kingdom of Bahrain with a paid-up capital of US$ 317 million (BD 120 million), Al Salam Bank Bahrain BSC operates under an Islamic retail banking licence issued by the Bahrain Monetary Agency. The Bank’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) of 35 per cent of the paid-up capital, which closed in March 2006, raised over US$ 7 billion (BD 2.7 billion) and was the largest IPO in the Kingdom’s history. The Bank was subsequently listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange on 27 April 2006.
The founding shareholders of Al Salam Bank hold 65 per cent of the paid-up capital. They include Emaar Properties, Amlak Finance, Dubai Investment Group, Dubai Holding, Global Investment House, Lebanese Canadian Bank, Al Salam Bank Sudan, and Dubai Islamic Insurance and Reinsurance Company (AMAN).
The interim results posted by the Bank for the half-year ended 30 June 2006 showed net profits of US$ 11.1 million (BD 4.2 million). This performance reflected a return on average equity of just under 9 per cent.
The vision of Al Salam Bank is to become a global force in the Islamic financial services industry, offering innovative and differentiated Sharia-complaint products and services to clients and investors in specific target segments. The Bank is committed to providing superior levels of customer service, adopting the highest international standards and global best practices, and contributing to the regional and global development of the Islamic financial services industry.
About Temenos
Founded in 1993, Temenos Group AG is a provider of integrated modular core banking systems to over 590 financial institutions in 110 countries worldwide. Temenos software provides banks with a single, real-time view of the client across the enterprise, enabling banks to maximize returns while streamlining costs. Whether providing 24/7 functionality to the wholesale, retail and private or universal banking sectors, partnering with central banks on core system replacement, or working with the World Bank on solutions for the emerging markets, Temenos knows banking. The company has a transparent approach to its operations and brings to bear its experience, expertise, commitment and professionalism on every project. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the company has 43 offices in 33 countries and is listed on the main segment of the SWX Swiss Exchange (TEMN). For more information please visit www.temenos.com
For more information, contact:
Max Chuard
Temenos Director
Corporate Finance & IR
Member of the Executive Board
Tel: +41 (0) 22 708 1157
Email: mchuard@temenos.com
Ben Robinson
Temenos Investor Relations Manager
Tel: +44 (0) 207 290 3012
Email: brobinson@temenos.com
Bianca Morgan
Temenos PR Manager
Tel: +44 (0) 207 423 3751
Email: bmorgan@temenos.com
Chris Patmore
Team 660
Metia for TEMENOS
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3100 3596
Email: chris.patmore@metia.com