IBS Journal February 2016


Bawag PSK bank launches Austria’s fi rst Islamic current account


Vienna-based Bawag PSK is launching Austria’s fi rst interest-free Islamic banking current account. It is understood that the new ser-


vice will be underpinned by the bank’s long-standing core banking platform, Allegro. The platform is a bespoke develop-


ment based on Accenture’s Alnova core banking system. Accenture was a major partner for the Allegro project when it was introduced back in 2003. Bawag says the launch of the Islam-


ic banking off ering is in response to the needs of diff erent sections of society. Claudia Lemlihi, Bawag’s head of mar-


keting, says the accounts will not pay or charge any interest and will instead charge a fi xed fee. The bank says customers will pay a


fi xed amount of €4.90, €11.90 and €34.90 per month for the account, debit card and overdraft facility. Lemlihi says the product, called Ama- na, has been specially created for Muslims living in Austria, and is offi cially available from early February this year. There was some criticism to the new


development, with Turkish newspaper Yeni


Şafak reporting ‘some critics said the move would give preferential treatment to Mus- lim customers but the bank immediately denied the allegation and said anyone can open an Islamic bank account’. Bawag says in a statement on its Face- book page that ‘everyone should respect the beliefs of all religious communities’. It also says that the bank’s new initia-


tive to launch the Amana current account is based on Austrian law. According to research by the Austrian


newspaper Der Standard, Islam is the second most widely professed religion in Austria. It is practiced by 7% of the total


population according to 2014 estimates, with an estimated 600,000 Muslims, mainly of Turkish and Bosnian origin, residing in the country. Bawag was founded in 1922; in 2005


it merged with another domestic player, PSK, to form Bawag PSK, which is the fi fth largest banking group in Austria today. The bank has about 150 branches and off ers banking facilities in more than 1,300 post offi ces. In total the group has around 6,300 employees.


Antony Peyton In brief


First Data and SAP have joined forces to create a new B2B payments system that aims to make transactions smoother. The resulting AribaPay solution,


announced at Davos (World Economic Forum) in Switzerland, will make the procure-to-pay process faster using a cloud-based model across a business network. Delivered through the Ariba


Network, the solution will be available across Europe and Latin America. Users, it is hoped, will be able to exchange purchase orders, invoices and payments with lower processing costs and better remittance advice, according to the two fi rms. Clients will also be able to track


transactions and have decreased reconciliation and dispute resolution times. ‘Our companies can turn


antiquated payments methods on their head’, says Frank Bisignano, First Data CEO.


Alex Hamilton


Temenos delivers new core system to DNB Luxembourg on time and budget


DNB Luxembourg has gone live on Temenos’ T24 core banking system within set timescales and budget. In addition to the Microsoft-based T24 core, the bank has also deployed Temenos Connect at the front-end for digital channels, a new document management system from UK-based EFS Technology and a regulatory reporting application from Wolters Kluwer Financial Services. A local IT integrator and Temenos’ services partner, Syncordis, assisted with the delivery. Syncordis is now working on another T24


roll-out in Luxembourg, at Advanzia Bank. DNB Luxembourg is a private banking subsidiary of major Norwegian banking group, DNB. It is a small 40-person organisation that


has two key business lines: private banking and mortgages for affl uent and high net-worth Norwegians who want to buy second homes abroad. At the start of the project, Johan Ludvigsson, head of IT at DNB Luxembourg, talked to IBS Intelligence about its drivers and plans. On its way out was Misys’ Midas that had been in place at DNB Luxembourg since 1993. ‘We have grown out of it,’ Ludvigsson said.


The mounting regulatory pressure and the increasing volumes of business strained the legacy set-up. The bank felt that overhauling this was a less risky route than continuing to maintain it. A number of vendors were evaluated, with Temenos and Sungard (with its Ambit Private Banking System, formerly known as Apsys) making it to the fi nal. In the end, the bank’s team felt that T24 was overall a more modern platform.


Tanya Andreasyan


8


© IBS Intelligence 2016


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