36
CASE STUDY
Al Baraka Bank Sudan goes live with Path Solutions’ iMAL R14.0
A
l Baraka Banking Group (B.S.C.) is one of the largest Islamic banking groups headquartered in Bahrain, and listed on the Bahrain Bourse and Nasdaq Dubai stock exchanges. Although the Al Baraka Banking Group was established in 2002, its antecedents go back almost 40 years, when Jordan Islamic Bank was formed in 1978. Currently, the group has a wide geographical presence across 15 countries and an asset size of US$24.9 billion as of September 2017. Al Baraka Banking Group offers retail, corporate, treasury and investment banking services, in accordance with Islamic Shari’ah principles. The group’s Sudanese subsidiary, Al Baraka Bank Sudan, was established in 1984 and currently operates 27 branches across the country, in retail, corporate, commercial and investment banking areas.
Al Baraka Banking Group runs a number of IT systems across its subsidiaries, with many of them using the iMAL system from Path Solutions, for its core banking system requirements. The Kuwait- based Path Solutions is a supplier of banking technology solutions and services, across multiple areas including core banking, investment banking, fund management, treasury and trading in GCC and global capital markets. iMAL is the supplier’s flagship technology solution catering to Islamic banks, Islamic financial institutions, and Islamic microfinance companies.
AI Baraka Bank Sudan has been an existing user of the cloud 2.4.10 version of iMAL system since 2011. While this version of iMAL was satisfactory with respect to the core functionalities, one of the main drawbacks that Al Baraka encountered was with the client-server architecture of the system. Typically, a client-server model is less robust compared to a web-based model, especially while operating across multiple branches, due to issues such as requirement of hardware, two-tier architecture, and limited capacity to handle multiple client requests that impacts performance. With 27 branches to operate, this was becoming increasingly difficult for Al Baraka Sudan to handle with its previous iMAL system.
In 2016, the bank decided to upgrade its system to a web- based model that was more suitable for the management of its operations. While deciding on an upgrade, Al Baraka found it
natural to continue with Path Solutions and upgrade to the latest available version of iMAL, for several reasons. One of the main reasons was the availability of iMAL 14.0, a Java programmed, web-based model that would enable the bank to manage all its branches from a single, central hardware at the headquarters, along with new enhancements and added functionalities that were not present in the previous system. Besides this, Al Baraka’s good experience with the previous system and the good relationship that it maintains with Path Solutions, also drove the decision.
In February 2016, the bank began discussing with Path Solutions about the iMAL upgrade, including requirements, specific enhancements, availability of resources, etc. The project kicked off in December of the same year. About 45 people from the bank and about 20 people from Path Solutions were mobilized for the project, with differing numbers at various stages. While Al Baraka had initially estimated to complete the implementation in nine months, it took about one year to complete it, and the system went live in February 2017. Path Solutions provided training for one month to the employees at Al Baraka, more specifically on the new Java modules, and the additional features that were included in the new release.
Al Baraka Sudan opted for a bank-wide implementation. Hence, all existing modules were upgraded to the R14.0 version of iMAL, across its 27 branches in Sudan. All the bank’s processes were also shifted to the new Java platform.
www.ibsintelligence.com | © IBS Intelligence 2018
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
