IBS Journal September 2015
Morocco to introduce Islamic banking framework
Regional banks are looking to capitalise on Morocco’s plans to introduce Islamic banking (also known as participation banking) services in the country. Morocco’s central bank, Bank Al Maghrib, is developing the regulatory frame- work for the industry to be ready by 2016. Amongst those that have applied for a
participation banking licence are under- stood to be Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) and Emirates Islamic Bank. Meanwhile, a domestic banking group, BMCE, is work- ing with its Bahrain-based counterpart, Al Baraka Banking Group, to launch an Islamic banking offering in Morocco. ADIB is already a well-established
brand in the MENA region, with presence across the UAE, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Qatar and Iraq. The bank is a long-standing user of the Ethix system from a regional suppli- er, International Turnkey Systems (ITS). It is anticipated that the coverage of the system will be extended to Morocco. ADIB is also
understood to be looking to enter the mar- kets of Algeria, Libya and Tunisia. Meanwhile, Emirates Islamic Bank has
no presence at the moment outside the UAE, although its parent, Emirates NBD, has a wider international footprint. It continues to
grow, with the latest addition in the region being the incorporation of the former BNP Paribas operations in Egypt into the Emirates NBD group. The group is a flagship user of Infosys’ Finacle core banking system. Tanya Andreasyan
Reserve Bank of Australia looks for new core system
Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the coun- try’s central bank, has issued an expression of interest (EOI) for the provision of a new core banking system. The bank is looking for a robust and
scalable system that can support large vol- umes (RBA processes over 320 million pay- ment and 25 million collection transactions per year, posted to customer accounts on an aggregate or an individual basis) and that can successfully integrate into the bank’s existing environment. Mandatory technologies include
Microsoft SQLServer or Oracle Relational Database server, Microsoft Active Directory for identity management integration, and web services based integration. The new core platform will be hosted
on the bank’s existing infrastructure. The preferred operating system is Microsoft Windows or Linux, as stated in the EOI, plus ‘a modern supportable language such as Java, C or .Net. If another language is used, the respondent must outline plans and approaches to minimise risk from obsoles- cence and related issues in skills scarcity’. Virtualisation capability should be achieved
through VMWare tc Server or Oracle Weblogic. RBA provides banking services to the
Australian Government and its agencies, other government entities and other cen- tral banks, as well as overseas institutions. Services include the provision of a term-deposit facility and the sweeping of balances to and from agencies’ accounts held with other financial institutions. It
© IBS Intelligence 2015
also manages Australia’s gold and for- eign exchange reserves. No retail bank- ing services are carried out by RBA. In the EOI document, RBA states that ‘while the number of customers to which the Reserve Bank provides services is low, transaction volumes and values can be significant’.
Tanya Andreasyan
www.ibsintelligence.com 21 Reserve Bank of Australia, Sydney
Bank Al Maghrib, central bank of Morocco © Davide Cesare Veniani, Wikipedia
ibs news
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
