IBS Journal November 2015


3i Infotech gains new customer in Saudi Arabia, Islamic mortgage company Saudi Home Loans


Saudi Home Loans (SHL), an Islamic mort- gage company in Riyadh, has implemented a suite of 3i Infotech’s solutions – Kastle Universal Lending, Kastle Treasury and Orion ERP.


Abdulelah Al-Shaikh, CEO of SHL says that the implementation – completed ear- lier this year – ‘involved a number of chal- lenges, but the dedication and knowledge of 3i Infotech’s team made it a successful migration into production’.


Jeelani Basha, head of 3i Infotech’s business in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, points to the advantages SHL has gained with this automation, including an improved go-to-market strategy, faster launch of new products, and the end users being able to access customer information and documents in real-time.


3i Infotech already has a number of customers in Saudi Arabia for its lending


solution. Among the Kastle Universal Lend- ing takers are Bank Al Jazira, Banque Saudi Fransi, Saudi Investment Bank and Taajeer Company.


As for Kastle Treasury, SHL has become the first company in the country to opt for it. 3i Infotech has been on a recovery path for the last few years, following its failure to


pay dues on outstanding loans to its banks in early 2012.


It then went through a debt restruc- turing, management overhaul, product set rationalisation and a reduction in its port- folio of acquisitions. It is still a loss-making company.


Tanya Andreasyan ABN Amro launches €10m fund for start-ups


Dutch state-owned bank, ABN Amro, has launched a €10m corporate funding package for start-ups. Called the Digital Impact Fund, the


bank is looking to capitalise on the cli- mate of innovation in the Netherlands and beyond – and asks for ‘European fintech’ start-ups to get in touch. Menno van Leeuwen, head of the inno-


vation centre focus team at ABN Amro, says: ‘The bank is actively seeking partner- ships with front-runners in technology, security and usability.’ Inspired by his travels in the US (and


Silicon Valley) at the beginning of last year, van Leeuwen visited a number of acceler- ators. He also noticed that ‘more and more big companies’ are setting up corporate investment funds. ABN Amro now wants to ‘take the plunge’. Van Leeuwen says: ‘Speaking to


representatives from a whole range of start-ups [in the US], I learned that over half of all investments are made by corporate companies. ‘Corporate development teams


and investors literally sit side by side in 6


co-working spaces and compete against one another to invest in promising start- ups. This is one of the main reasons so many Silicon Valley start-ups are able to secure high valuations.’ ABN Amro now thinks the Dutch busi- ness community needs corporate funding.


Orange and no lemons Van Leeuwen also points to a number of statistics. He says the Netherlands currently ranks fourth in Europe, and 19th worldwide in the 2015 Global Start-up Ecosystem Ranking. He thinks ‘there’s plenty of work to do, particularly when it comes to available capital’.


He says: ‘[Partnerships] should be a


good match. Corporates shouldn’t be fixat- ed on the fintech hype, but should focus on seeking out specific products and services that will complement their portfolio. The culture of a given start-up should also be compatible with their own.’ Van Leeuwen says the €10 million Dig-


ital Impact Fund will allow the bank to take a ‘strategic stake’ in a number of ‘promising’ fintech innovators – from ‘mobile banking


© IBS Intelligence 2015 www.ibsintelligence.com


to personal finance, and from payments to e-identity’. He wants start-ups to contact him at ABN


Amro: menno.van.leeuwen@nl.abnamro.com He adds that the bank’s ‘preference is


to invest in European fintech companies which have already launched a product and are currently in the growth phase’. Antony Peyton


Menno van Leeuwen, ABN Amro


Riyadh, home of


Saudi Home Loans © mo, Wikipedia


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