g


Bank: Global Banking Corporation Vendor: InfrasoftTech System: OmniEnterprise


Selection


Type of Financial Institution: Islamic investment bank Headquarters: Kingdom of Bahrain Initial Issued Capital: $200Mn Project scope: Islamic Treasury and Investment System/vendor replaced: N/A System/vendor installed: OmniEnterprise from Infrasoft Technology: N/A Functionality: Islamic Treasury and Investment


Interfaces: 2 solutions from Microsoft, a CRM solution and Dynamics/GP, a general ledger Selection team: Bank Selection time: 4 months Installation team: Bank & Vendor Installation time: 3 months Level of satisfaction: High


Overview


Global Banking Corporation (GBCorp) is a new Islamic investment bank incorporated in Bahrain. It has an initial paid up capital of $250 million (and authorised capital of $500 million), and operates in the GCC, MENA, Europe and Asia. GBCorp’s main business areas are private equity, venture capital, real estate and infrastructure development. As part of its client service, GBCorp offers asset management, advisory services in corporate finance and capital markets, and portfolio management services. GBCorp’s headquarters are in the Bahrain Financial Harbour, a financial district in Bahrain. It was launched in June 2007.


The bank started looking for a core system in February 2008. Being a new bank, this was not a system replacement. A contract had been signed with Infrasoft Technologies, for OmniEnterprise, by May of that year, and the system had gone live by July 2008.


Shortlist the vendor


The selection process consisted of gap analyses, walkthroughs and high-level proof-of-concept and prototyping. No consultants were thought necessary, part of the reason for this being that the selection team had previous in-depth experience of the selection process as well as in the implementation of various core banking systems. This played a major role in the elimination of some of the shortlisted contenders.


Selection Committee


The selection team consisted of the chief financial officer, chief information officer, treasury manager and dealers. The bank had a very detailed list of criteria for choosing the system. The main requirements were split into three sub-groups. Details of the vendor itself were accorded 45 per cent importance. The specifics required of the vendor were as follows: Its understanding of the underlying principles of Islamic banking, and its ability to convey these to GBCorp, was important, as was the vendor’s understanding of treasury, asset and fund management in conventional and Islamic banking. Its previous experience in these fields would be taken into account, along with its understanding of GBCorp’s business model. Ease of access to the vendor, the level of vendor involvement, and commitment from the vendor’s senior executives, were all considered important, and likewise the ready availability of the vendor’s resources, both at the time and in the future. This was linked to its size, stability and future strategy. Finally, the vendor’s flexibility in terms of implementation strategy was scrutinized. Criteria of the system itself was the second sub-set. These were functionality, modularity, ease of use, and the use of workflow, and together represented 27.5 per cent of the requirements. The final 27.5 per cent concerned the implementation itself: speed and ease of implementation, the ease of integration (requiring an open environment or platform), technology and costs. Costs were broken down into licensing, implementation and support. The selection


Islamic Report www.ibsintelligence.com 55


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  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212  |  Page 213  |  Page 214  |  Page 215  |  Page 216  |  Page 217  |  Page 218  |  Page 219  |  Page 220  |  Page 221  |  Page 222  |  Page 223  |  Page 224  |  Page 225  |  Page 226  |  Page 227  |  Page 228  |  Page 229  |  Page 230  |  Page 231  |  Page 232  |  Page 233  |  Page 234  |  Page 235  |  Page 236  |  Page 237  |  Page 238  |  Page 239  |  Page 240  |  Page 241  |  Page 242  |  Page 243  |  Page 244  |  Page 245  |  Page 246  |  Page 247  |  Page 248  |  Page 249  |  Page 250  |  Page 251  |  Page 252  |  Page 253  |  Page 254  |  Page 255  |  Page 256  |  Page 257  |  Page 258  |  Page 259  |  Page 260  |  Page 261  |  Page 262  |  Page 263  |  Page 264  |  Page 265  |  Page 266