cross-asset trading, risk management and portfolio management product from Openlink Financial. System testing was being undertaken with iMAL at the same time that the ground was being prepared for Findur. 'Some people were needed for both.We only had a limited number of people, so we had the inevitable contention. If we'd been late on iMAL it could have created problems. We probably should have had an extra month between them.'
Results
iMAL has been working smoothly since the project finished. It was completed on time, and since much of the interface development was done by EAB staff, it finished under budget. It was, however, 'very intense from the moment we started'. As well as the level of support from Path, Landsman put success down to the determination of the staff, especially since few had much experience of Shari'a products and rules, and most were also working on other projects concurrently. Landsman did not believe the bespoke, complicated Islamic products EAB will offer would be possible with another universal banking system. 'From the way the system is structured, it's not just the word “interest” changed to “profit”. There is a bit of truth in that; the data model does lend itself to Islamic finance. Other universal systems have put all sorts of bodies in place to try and mimic that, but they'll never work as well as a system that has actually been designed for it.' iMAL rendered many previous paper based processes obsolete. 'Using conventional systems, there had to be a lot of intervention, intercepting something before it went out.We have sold Islamic products for 18 years, but we've always had to rely on conventional systems. You can do it, but it's dangerous. You might get it wrong, sending a statement out to an Islamic client with interest all over it. Now, we shouldn't have to worry about that sort of thing.'
For the future, EAB would continue to work with Path to develop the functionality of the system, stated Landsman.
