and fixed assets. The system was also being interfaced with Swift and credit card software. Société Générale Private Banking (Belgium) was also scheduled to go live at the end of 2007 with the ICBS Loans module. In 2008, there was also a degree of churn between BML and Misys: Al Mawarid Financial Services moved from Midas to ICBS, while Masraf Al Rayan selected Misys’ Equation, Trade Portal and Trade Innovation in May. However, BML said in June that Masraf Al Rayan was not only still on a maintenance and support contract, but had contracted BML for a tawaruq module. BML CEO Joe Faddoul admitted, however, that he was advised early in 2008 that the new COO at the bank was likely to seek an alternative. Mansour Bank in Iraq also signed for Equation in 2009, having selected ICBS the year before. During 2008, BML also piggy-backed Intercontinental Bank of
Lebanon into Cyprus, to install ICBS at IBL Bank, a subsidiary of its existing customer. This project was due to finish in September of the same year. BML was also able to benefit from the rebuilding of Iraq’s banking system in 2007 and 2008, in partnership with Al-Rahmania IT and Telecoms (part of the Iraq-based Alrahmani Group). The pair picked up wins at Union Bank of Iraq and National Bank of Iraq, both private banks. The banks chose centralised systems, with thin client branch interfaces and connectivity through VSAT. Other Iraq deals have followed in the last few years from the likes of Economy Bank for Investment and Finance, Mosul Bank (13 branches), Minare Bank (54 branches in the Kurdish region), International Smart Card, and Bank of Erbil. The Iraqi banks are not offering Shari’ah banking to date. However, Kurdistan International Bank, which was seeking a solution for Islamic banking in 2010, opted instead for Path Solutions. As well as benefiting from the opening up of the Iraqi market in
recent years, BML has also appeared able to rely on a steady stream of signings from low-end banks, as well as start-ups, in Lebanon. Middle East Capital Group (MECG) and Levantum are fairly recent examples of these types of wins. MECG is an investment banking firm belonging to First National Bank, which signed for the core banking and capital markets functionality of ICBS plus a Swift interface to replace an old version of Thomson Reuters’ Portia (as well as an accounting system) in mid-2009; Levantum is a Lebanese start-up bank which selected BML at the end of 2009 in preference to the likes of Temenos. Lebanese institutions, MENA Invest and Excillis Finance, also followed suit in the first quarter of 2011. However, there has been a slowdown generally in BML’s Middle Eastern stronghold since 2010 and this was reflected in its three new name signings for this year (and just two for this region in
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2011), versus six for both 2008 and 2009. In terms of progress in Islamic banking, a significant proportion of BML’s losses in its home territory appear to have occurred where there is an Islamic banking requirement. BML did not gain any wins to Shari’ah-compliant institutions in 2009 and, although beaten at MECG, Path scooped the only two deals in 2009 in Lebanon, with a custodian and clearing centre, Midclear, and a fund manager, Al Mustathmer. In 2011, BML gained fewer Islamic deals in its home territory than competitors ICS and Path. More worrying still for the vendor is the fact that, given the current turmoil in the region, it is hard to imagine that there will be a pick-up in terms of activity generally any time soon. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, BML has forged new partnerships in
the last couple of years in the hope of expanding its global footprint, with Russia as well as South East Asia particular areas of focus for the supplier. For the former region, a tie-up was forged with R-Style Softlab. This has yet to produce any tangible results. For Malaysia and Indonesia, an agreement was signed with Kuala Lumpur-based Heitech Padu in the first half of 2010 to distribute ICBS in the region. Faddoul claimed in early 2011 that BML had reached the shortlist stage with two RFPs in Malaysia. There was progress, however, still to be made in its home territory. 2010 saw a notable first win for BML in Bahrain in the form of Islamic investment bank, Capivest. Specialising in private equity, real estate, venture capital, treasury and direct investments across the Gulf region, the bank had outgrown its old accounting package so a decision was made to introduce a full core banking system. The selection project started in November 2009, with functionality, flexibility, support and cost of the software the key criteria. During the selection process, Capivest was reassured by the experiences of Commercial Bank of Kuwait, which is located in a country where BML does not have an office, as it was felt that ‘the customer satisfaction was really high’, said Seshadri Krishnan, head of IT at the bank. Indeed, by 2012, Commercial Bank of Kuwait had signed to extend its use of the system to cover treasury too. Krishnan also felt BML’s offering was superior to the evaluated competitors in terms of functionality, agility and ease of use. A big bang go-live was scheduled for mid-January 2011. It was hoped that Capivest could unlock the Bahraini market for the vendor as many local investment financial institutions were still running rudimentary accounting packages, with the Bahraini government putting pressure on them to automate their processes. This, however, has yet to materialise. There then followed a major breakthrough with Heitech Padu at Malaysia-based Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN). This was BML’s
Islamic Report
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