g
replace its legacy in-house system. Ethix was selected versus Flexcube and T24 to cover all the main operations of the bank. However, the cut-over here was postponed from the original 2012 year-end to Q3 2013. Ismail Ali Ahmed, director of banking, marketing and global operations at ITS, attributed the delay to a prolonged contract signing process. Further good news came towards the end of 2012 as it was
reported that ITS’s investment module of Ethix was to replace Path Solutions’ system at its parent, Kuwait Finance House in Bahrain. Kuwait Finance House was a long-standing user of Ethix at its HQ in Kuwait and across the regional subsidiaries in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and further afield in Malaysia. The investment module of iMAL continued to run in Kuwait and Malaysia.
Oman also continued to produce Islamic core banking
software deals during 2012 following the decree by the country’s authorities that its banks had to separate their Islamic operations from conventional ones. As a result, ITS picked up National Bank of Oman. Around the same time, ITS also gained a first core banking deal in Zimbabwe. This came at People’s Own Savings Bank (POSB) to support conventional banking operations across its 38 domestic branches and was to replace Equinox.
In Q1 2013, ITS gained a client in Saudi Arabia for Ethix Investment Solution, the vendor’s newly launched investment banking and asset/fund management software offering. The taker was Alawwal Capital (also known as Alawwal Financial Services), which specialises in Islamic and conventional corporate finance, asset management and advisory, and has equity and murabaha funds under management. The company opened for business in 2008, with its operations supported by the OmniEnterprise system from India-based Infrasoft Technologies. The decision was influenced by the continuing roll-out of the investment functionality by Kuwait Finance House, including in Saudi Arabia. In April 2013, there was a change at the helm within ITS, followed by the announcement of an overhaul of the company’s
executive leadership and business plan. Taking over was L. John Loomis, replacing Khaled Faraj Al-Saeid, who had been running ITS for two decades. The resultant ‘Turnaround’ programme was described by Loomis as ‘a rejuvenated comprehensive business plan that will put the company back on track’. It was ‘set to reposition ITS as a profitable, cutting- edge IT and business solutions provider, producing and delivering to the highest standards of quality to meet customer demand. Our business requires that we develop a more agile structure, focusing on quality and cutting edge technology products that satisfy all our stakeholders, from customers to shareholders and employees.’ With 20 years of experience in the industry, Loomis had most recently been general manager and head of IT at Arab National Bank in Kuwait and also was MD and head of operations, administration and IT at Gulf International Bank in Bahrain. However, Loomis left ITS in early 2014, less than a year into the job. ITS’s parent, KFH, promptly appointed a new acting CEO Yousef Alduwailah. Alduwailah is a long-term employee of ITS, having worked up from the post of customer service engineer in 1998. The permanent role was expected to be filled imminently. In terms of business strategy, ITS was looking to develop the concept started by the PCD module and offer more components of Ethix to
users of other core banking
solutions. Another component was the new financial process management (FPM) module. This was running at one existing Ethix user by mid-2014. The FPM module is based on around 20 pre-defined end-to-end processes which aim to improve automation for banks in areas of Islamic banking which cut across departments. Other areas of Ethix which could be sold as separate components to banks regardless of their core system included the investment and treasury functionality, internet banking, and software for Sukuk (Islamic bonds). As well as the existing customer which was using FPM, there
were also a claimed three further users of the PCD module, but the names were yet to be revealed.
Islamic Report
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