g
Georges Ayoub, Delta’s sales manager, felt that a halal version of Delta-Bank had wide potential. ‘We rely on the expertise of FBS [Daleelteq’s subsidiary] to develop new products targeting Islamic banks in Europe, and new products demanded by our customers in North Africa.’ One possibility by April 2008 was to provide a first Islamic core solution for a bank in France. ‘It’s at an early stage and it’s very confidential. It’s only a project for the future,’ said Ayoub. One Islamic market where Delta stepped back from was Iran. When System Access was bought by Sungard, the vendor was obliged to give up its dealings in the Islamic Republic. This brought an opportunity at Tehran-based Zamin Bank and Delta went as far as to sign a deal, but balked because of the difficulties presented by the complexity of the Shari’ah rules, Farsi language and different calendar. The project did not go ahead.
Delta continued to pick up the odd win in 2009, including in some exotic locations. It won a deal in Tahiti with Office de Postes et Telecommunications, and followed this up with a win at the largest bank in Mauritania, Banque Mauritanienne pour le Commerce International (BMCI). The third and final new name win in 2009 came from a Senegalese start-up of Lebanese group Credit Libanais, called Credit International. This win reflected Delta’s ability to leverage its presence in areas where other vendors are less in evidence. Delta started 2010 with another notable deal. Like Credit International, the new customer was neither a French bank nor a local African bank. This was Portuguese group, Banco Espirito Santo. It was looking to expand its operations in Africa and took Delta-Bank for the Democratic Republic of Congo, despite its use of Flexcube in Angola. Zimbabwe was expected to follow. Ultimately, Delta gained five wins in 2010, all in Africa: two in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the others in Angola, Cameroon and Rwanda. There were five wins again in 2011, including in Tunisia at Banque Tuniso- Koweitienne (BTK), in Madagascar at Banque Malgache de l’Ocean Indien (BMOI), in Rwanda at Cogebanque, and in Russia at Ural Finance House (also known as Uralsky Finansovy Dom, or Ural FD for short).
Sopra acquires Delta
After seemingly rebuffing the advances of Temenos just a year or two earlier, in mid-2011 came the news that Delta was to be acquired by Sopra, another French financial software firm, which was hitherto known for its lending and risk management products. There appeared to be little or no overlap between the offerings of the two companies. There were to be no job losses and Delta’s founder,
chairman and CEO, Delage, was to remain with the company. Sopra’s main applications for the banking sector to date were for high-end lending, compliance, payments and card management. They were sold under the Evolan brand. Sopra had been in contact with Delta for around six months and also looked at other suppliers. The breadth and technology of Delta’s offerings were attractive, as was the culture of the company. Sopra’s consulting division had worked on a number of systems integration projects around Delta-Bank in Africa, the Middle East and Central Europe and this had added to its knowledge of the supplier. Delta-Bank would allow Sopra to offer a solution for the international networks of large banks as well as for domestic mid- sized players outside of France. While the two companies had a few customers in common, such as SocGen, Delta-Bank was firmly within the overseas networks, not the domestic market. It was thought that the two companies were working a year or so before the deal on a joint bid to a French bank, where Delta Informatique needed a large partner. Although unsuccessful, the episode brought initial discussions. Delta had revenues in 2010 of €33.5 million and had around 300 staff, with six offices in Africa. Sopra had around 13,300 staff and had revenues in 2010 of €1170 million, so would clearly represent a large parent for Delta. While much of Sopra’s business was in its home market, it had become more international over time, in part through acquisitions (including buying the low-end lending system, ComponentBanker, with Belgium-based Business Architects). Sopra would open an office shortly in Spain, said Jean-Paul Bourbon, head of Sopra’s financial services division, and another was planned for Italy. At the time of the acquisition it had not been decided whether the Delta Informatique name would be retained; Delta-Bank it seemed would adopt the Evolan brand. Several months later a new brand, Sopra Banking Amplitude, was unveiled for what had been Delta-Bank. Sopra also subsequently added Tieto’s UK operation and, as mentioned, Belgium-based C&W, hence moving from having no core banking solutions to three in a relatively short period of time. It was thought C&W would also be merged with the Evolan payments business, a year or two before Delta was due to head the same way. By the latter half of 2012, both Delta and C&W had been placed within the newly-launched Sopra Banking Software. Marc De Groote, MD of Sopra Banking Software, described Amplitude as best suited for banks that want a light, straightforward, integrated system that covers all main front-to-back office operations and offers the convenience of fast time-to-market.
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