The Arab Energy Fund

Founded in the 1970s as the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), the Arab Energy Fund is a specialist financial institution focused on midstream and downstream energy investments. Its business activities span direct equity investments, trade finance, and structured loans, including syndicated and bilateral arrangements where it often acts as facility or syndication agent. It supports over 130 active facilities with a combined balance sheet exceeding USD 5.88 billion.

In 2024 it marked its 50th anniversary with an expanded mandate that includes sustainability and ESG-driven financing. That vision came with complexity, and need for further enhancements of the system with new and more innovative modules.

Ready for more

For years, the Fund relied on Temenos’ SL module for corporate lending. The solution provided a strong foundation, but as deal structures became more complex and the Fund’s role expanded, the need for enhanced flexibility and automation grew.

With increased lending volume and more sophisticated structures, the Fund sought a modern platform that could streamline operations and support the full lifecycle of every loan.

Co-creating the future

The Fund worked closely with Temenos to define a solution that matched its operational needs.

The outcome of that exercise was the selection of Facilities Lending and Club Loan modules of Arrangement Architecture (AA), that are offered within Temenos Core Banking.

Temenos went on to lead the business requirements design phase, with Systems Arabia (formerly NDC) providing implementation support and integration expertise.

Go-live was achieved in November 2024, with immediate results.

Capable of more complexity

The new solution gave Arab Energy Fund the power to structure and service bilateral, club, and syndicated deals with far greater efficiency.

Manual processes were replaced with automations. The Fund can now handle multi-party disbursements, track covenants in real time, and reconcile fee and principal payments with accuracy and speed.

With greater operational efficiency, the Fund has increased its capacity to serve as agent on more complex deals. And because each facility can be configured individually, the platform supports the Fund’s ambitions to lead higher-value, structured transactions in the region.

Additionally, the AA architecture has enabled product-level configuration and categorization, streamlining how data is captured and improving what’s possible in reporting and analysis

“When your products are designed the way your business operates, reporting becomes a by-product,” Mohammad said. “Now we get the data we need, in the format we need it. And we feed these back into the business, so we have a continually loop of insights and improvements.”

Going greener

Technology is also helping the Fund deliver on its ESG commitments. Since 2020, it has launched green bonds and invested in sustainable energy projects. Its new Temenos modules allow for these ESG-linked products to be structured with the specific parameters needed for compliance and performance tracking.

More automation

With lending modernized, the Fund is now expanding its transformation. It is currently implementing Temenos Payments Hub (TPH) and exploring Temenos SaaS and AI-based analytics.

Internally, it has also launched an automation project called Intelliflo, combining Microsoft Power Automate, RPA, and Co-pilot AI to streamline operational tasks outside the core platform.

These solutions give the potential for further automation, in turn allowing the Fund to focus resources on higher-value tasks, such as serving more complex customers, and delivering higher-impact deals, all while staying aligned to its ESG vision.

The Arab Energy Fund Scaling and Evolving Corporate Lending Riyadh, Saudi Arabia At a Glance Deployed Arrangement Architecture (AA), Facility Lending, and Club Loan modules from Temenos Core First implementation of its kind across bilateral, club, and syndicated lending structures Automation of complex agency functions including fee management, pro-rata reconciliations, and covenant tracking Founded in the 1970s as the Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), the Arab Energy Fund is a specialist financial institution focused on midstream and downstream energy investments. Its business activities span direct equity investments, trade finance, and structured loans, including syndicated and bilateral arrangements where it often acts as facility or syndication agent. It supports over 130 active facilities with a combined balance sheet exceeding USD 5.88 billion. In 2024 it marked its 50th anniversary with an expanded mandate that includes sustainability and ESG-driven financing. That vision came with complexity, and need for further enhancements of the system with new and more innovative modules. https://vimeo.com/1094014151/8b8361059c PLACEHOLDER https://vimeo.com/1099842441/ddc60d4ab1?ts=0&share=copy The Arab Energy Fund 2025 Reference Case study – Video Pioneering Composable Digital Banking in Saudi Arabia Riyadh, Saudi Arabia The Arab Energy Fund web ready logo Ready for more For years, the Fund relied on Temenos’ SL module for corporate lending. The solution provided a strong foundation, but as deal structures became more complex and the Fund’s role expanded, the need for enhanced flexibility and automation grew. With increased lending volume and more sophisticated structures, the Fund sought a modern platform that could streamline operations and support the full lifecycle of every loan. Co-creating the future The Fund worked closely with Temenos to define a solution that matched its operational needs. Temenos really studied the market. They looked at customers’ needs, where existing solutions were falling short, and where the market was heading. Everything was about taking the guesswork out, and instead focussing on the facts and the evidence. – Mohammad Khatib, Director, Information Technology at The Arab Energy Bank The outcome of that exercise was the selection of Facilities Lending and Club Loan modules of Arrangement Architecture (AA), that are offered within Temenos Core Banking. Temenos went on to lead the business requirements design phase, with Systems Arabia (formerly NDC) providing implementation support and integration expertise. Go-live was achieved in November 2024, with immediate results. Every product we’ve launched since go-live has moved from development to testing to production smoothly and on time. – Mansour Al-Zharani, Senior Director for Application Development at STC Bank Mansour explains that the balance of out-of-the-box capabilities with customizations has been crucial to this. “Builds and releases are now fully automated throughout all the environments, while the ease with which we can add customizations keeps us agile.” Deep partnership STC Bank chose Temenos for its vision, track record, and composable architecture. The decision was rooted in a long-term view: avoiding legacy limitations and investing in a platform that evolves with innovation. Temenos stood out for its experience in the Saudi market, strong regional partnerships, and the ability to support open technologies such as PostgreSQL. Equally important was the partnership ethos. Temenos’ engagement was deep and broad, with product owners, technical specialists, and support all involved. STC Bank also benefits from Temenos First Level Support, including an onsite engineer for immediate issue resolution, helping preserve development speed and service continuity. Looking ahead STC Bank continues to expand its product set using Temenos Core, with new lending and deposit offerings in development. It is also exploring how AI capabilities from Temenos can further improve operational efficiency, development workflows, and delivery timelines. We’re on a journey to reach more customers by offering more services—and Temenos is helping us get there. This partnership isn’t just for a year or two. It’s about long-term growth. – Mansour Al-Zharani, Senior Director for Application Development at STC Bank With a modern, scalable core in place, STC Bank is well positioned to lead the future of digital banking in Saudi Arabia—setting the standard for what a composable, cloud-native bank can achieve. The outcome of that exercise was the selection of Facilities Lending and Club Loan modules of Arrangement Architecture (AA), that are offered within Temenos Core. Temenos went on to lead the business requirements design phase, with Systems Arabia (formerly NDC) providing implementation support and integration expertise. Go-live was achieved in November 2024, with immediate results Capable of more complexity The new solution gave Arab Energy Fund the power to structure and service bilateral, club, and syndicated deals with far greater efficiency. Manual processes were replaced with automations. The Fund can now handle multi-party disbursements, track covenants in real time, and reconcile fee and principal payments with accuracy and speed. We delivered everything we set out to achieve. It’s simpler, more flexible, and more accurate; and all this relieves pressure from our teams. – Mohammad Khatib, Director, Information Technology at The Arab Energy Bank With greater operational efficiency, the Fund has increased its capacity to serve as agent on more complex deals. And because each facility can be configured individually, the platform supports the Fund’s ambitions to lead higher-value, structured transactions in the region. Additionally, the AA architecture has enabled product-level configuration and categorization, streamlining how data is captured and improving what’s possible in reporting and analysis “When your products are designed the way your business operates, reporting becomes a by-product,” Mohammad said. “Now we get the data we need, in the format we need it. And we feed these back into the business, so we have a continually loop of insights and improvements.” Going greener Technology is also helping the Fund deliver on its ESG commitments. Since 2020, it has launched green bonds and invested in sustainable energy projects. Its new Temenos modules allow for these ESG-linked products to be structured with the specific parameters needed for compliance and performance tracking. These tools have further enabled our ESG strategy. We can now create and manage green loans with the precision and transparency required. – Mohammad Khatib, Director, Information Technology at The Arab Energy Bank More automation With lending modernized, the Fund is now expanding its transformation. It is currently implementing Temenos Payments Hub (TPH) and exploring Temenos SaaS and AI-based analytics. Internally, it has also launched an automation project called Intelliflo, combining Microsoft Power Automate, RPA, and Co-pilot AI to streamline operational tasks outside the core platform. These solutions give the potential for further automation, in turn allowing the Fund to focus resources on higher-value tasks, such as serving more complex customers, and delivering higher-impact deals, all while staying aligned to its ESG vision. Every year, we aim to do something new in the system, so we keep evolving. With Temenos, we have the platform and the partnership to do exactly that. – Mohammad Khatib, Director, Information Technology at The Arab Energy Bank solutions Banking solutions for all segments Empowering banks across segments with scalable, innovative, and efficient solutions. Explore our solutions Explore our solutions We partnered successfully with: Systems logo – grey text Systems Limited is a global technology public limited company founded in 1977 with the mission to offer holistic transformations to its clients. solutions Banking solutions for all segments Empowering banks across segments with scalable, innovative, and efficient solutions. Explore our solutions Learn more about Systems LTD Systems Limited is a global technology public limited company founded in 1977 with the mission to offer holistic transformations to its clients. solutions Banking solutions for all segments Empowering banks across segments with scalable, innovative, and efficient solutions. Explore our solutions solutions Banking solutions for all segments Empowering banks across segments with scalable, innovative, and efficient solutions. Explore our solutions Systems Limited is a global technology public limited company founded in 1977 with the mission to offer holistic transformations to its clients. systems ltd logo Read more about Systems LTD