Capital Bank of Jordan (CBoJ) had a vision: to offer digital services that are customer centric and evolve around the daily needs of customers. To that end, CBoJ enlisted Backbase the digital-first banking software leader to aid in a complete digital overhaul. The project had an ambitious scope: the delivery of new digital experiences for Corporate Banking, as well as mobile and web applications for Retail Banking.

Such a project called for the right help, so Bring Global, the 2019 recipient of Backbase’s Regional Partner of the Year Award, was enlisted as the implementation partner on the project. Together, all three parties worked tirelessly to launch all project streams less than one year after development began, a major success celebrated by everyone involved.  

Isam Samara, Head of Marketing & Corporate Communications at Capital Bank of Jordan, comments:

“As a financial services player one of our core aims is to serve our clients Digitally; we have started the project after careful gathering of clients’ needs and requirements which formulated our roadmap for delivery with a forward looking understanding that our clients requirements and industry will continue evolving.. we have adopted cutting edge technologies and solutions that our clients deserve in managing their financials.

Aside from their technical prowess, CBoJ selected Bring Global for their experience with agile working practices—a delivery methodology not previously used by CBoJ. With the speed of new releases and innovations being so crucial in today’s world, imparting an agile way of working is key to Backbase’s digital transformation method. The Backbase Digital-First Banking Platform is specifically designed to help banks move quickly, further increasing the need for agility.

Eyas Khawaja, COO at Capital Bank of Jordan, comments:

“Moving quickly and getting new releases out the door is a big part of how we plan to operate. So we worked with Backbase and Bring on how to be truly agile, we have elevated our human capital knowhow and delivery culture to ensure we remain adaptive / agile and lean.

This was also a project of firsts. The project was launched on Microsoft Azure using Kubernetes, which was previously uncharted territory for the region. Although a highly-complex process, Microsoft was on hand throughout to aid in implementation.

“Financial institutions remain uniquely positioned to drive economic empowerment. At Microsoft, we are on a journey to empower these organisations to deliver new value and differentiated experiences, helping them to thrive in the digital age. Technology provides the shortest path to achieve these ambitions and we commit to work with Capital Bank of Jordan to accelerate their digital transformation journey”, noted Ibrahim Youssry, General Manager, MEA Multi-Country Cluster covering North, West, East & Southern Africa, Levant & Pakistan countries.

Supported by a fully cloud-native platform and agile working practices, CBoJ has the enviable position of being able to scale and adapt as needed.

Jouk Pleiter, Backbase CEO, comments:

“It wasn’t just about making sure that Capital Bank of Jordan is able to meet customer needs today. We want them to be able to look ahead and adapt to new technologies or trends. The scalability of the solution was always top of mind.”

Meeting people’s digital needs today and prepared for what comes tomorrow—Capital Bank of Jordan is now in a position to truly compete with the big banks in the region.

The first stage of National Bank of Iraq’s digital upgrade is now complete. Backbase was selected due to the capabilities of the Backbase Digital-First Banking Platform, which offered both sophisticated technology, and the ability to scale and adapt with changing needs. Agility was also key to this project’s success, a key tenant of Backbase’s digital transformation method. So Backbase helped coach the bank’s teams on agile best practices, allowing them to better serve their customers and capitalize on the platform’s capabilities.

Ayman Abu Duhaim, CEO of the National Bank of Iraq, commented  on the partnership:

“We wanted the best for our customers now, but it was very important to find the right partner who would help us scale over time. It wasn’t just about the platform but we equally wanted a platform that enables us to continue adding value to our customers in a seamless manner.

The project consisted of four separate tracks that went live in just one year. This was also the first time a bank has launched over cloud in Iraq. This success is a testament to the dedication of the teams at both companies. But the implementation partner, Bring Global, also deserves credit. Backbase recently awarded them Regional Partner of the Year due to their success on this project, as well as with Capital Bank of Jordan.

Jouk Pleiter, CEO at Backbase, adds:

“We’re thrilled to work with the National Bank of Iraq on the first cloud launch in the region. The scope of the project and the time frame also proves what we always tell our clients: being agile is the most efficient and effective way to work.”

Backbase and National Bank of Iraq will continue to work side-by-side, ensuring that the bank’s customers continue to have the best products and services in the years to come.

Anders la Cour, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of ground-breaking financial utility, Banking Circle, has been appointed Chair of the newly-launched non-profit business association, Emerging Payments Association EU. The new trade association builds on the international network of its London-based sister organisation, the Emerging Payments Association (EPA), which consists of 150 members from across the payments industry.

Based in Luxembourg, the EPA EU is a new, separate legal structure created to promote and defend the interests of the payments industry across the European Union. The latest payments businesses to join the EPA EU include Visa and Mastercard.

Banking Circle is one of three founding members of the new EPA EU, alongside the UK-based EPA and Luxembourg for Finance (LFF) – the Agency for the Development of the Financial Centre. The European organisation is headed by Banking Circle’s Anders la Cour as Chair and Thibault de Barsy, ex-CEO of Keytrade Bank Luxembourg, as Vice-chairman and General Manager.

Tony Craddock, Director General of the EPA commented: “We’ve received an incredibly enthusiastic reaction to our launch in Luxembourg from right across the industry, and we are delighted that the organisation will be led by Anders la Cour, as Chair. This is a period of great importance for the payments industry across Europe, as we wait to see how Financial Services will be handled within the ongoing Brexit negotiations. The importance of banking and payments must not be underestimated, and the newly launched EPA EU will play an important role in representing the interests of our members.”

Anders la Cour added: “Having just secured our Banking Licence from the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) in Luxembourg, we are delighted to be involved in the newly formed EPA EU, and I am both honoured and excited to be taking on the important role of Chair.

“Businesses across the EU are in the midst of big market changes, with many challenges and opportunities to come. The EPA EU will play a vital role in supporting payments businesses as they negotiate the changing landscape and we all work together to find the best way to support industry and consumers across the region and the rest of the world.”

For accompanying image, please click on the link below:
Anders la Cour

Community Bank, among the newest scheduled banks in Bangladesh, and Infosys Finacle, part of EdgeVerve Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Infosys (NYSE: INFY), today announced the successful implementation of the Finacle Core Banking Solution at the bank, in just 48 days. With the new banking platform, Community Bank is well placed to provide a truly digital banking experience to its retail and corporate customers. Among multiple benefits, the modern platform enables the bank to launch new products within a fraction of time, offer a differentiated customer experience and empower the bank to grow rapidly.

Highlights:

• The bank is now enabled for massive scalability at minimal cost and can onboard new customers and open accounts, complete with all features enabled, within 15 minutes. Community Bank has on boarded more than 200,000 new accounts in just 2 months
• The Bank can now offer tailored products to its customers based on a unified 360-degree customer view and embedded insights, in real time, across channels. It can also deploy embedded analytics to gain deep insights and customize offerings throughout the customer journey
• The robust Finacle security architecture protects infrastructure, data, and application layers with identity and access management, user role management, limits, and exception management, for best in class security
• The bank can now co-innovate with the external ecosystem, with lightweight, fast, scalable, and easy to maintain web services (RESTful APIs), engaging fintechs and digital ecosystems, and driving co-innovation with developer community.
• Best of Breed Software Solutions (BBSSL), an Infosys Finacle business partner, implemented the solution at Community Bank at a fraction of the time.

Masihul Huq Chowdhury, Managing Director and CEO, Community Bank Bangladesh Ltd, said, “As a new bank in a mature banking landscape, our focus is to leverage a digital-first strategy to provide reliable, high quality financial services to our customers. Infosys Finacle has strong solution credentials, a proven track record of empowering leading banks in Bangladesh, and experience of working with global financial institutions. With Finacle’s cutting-edge digital banking platform we believe we are ready to meet our current requirements and future vision with ease.”

Venkatramana Gosavi, Senior Vice President & Global Head of Sales, Infosys Finacle, said, “Pervasive digitization, challenging economic climate and evolving customer demands, is a reality that presents itself to any new bank entering the industry. With our proven platform, which comes configured with pre-packaged products and services, and our enabled partner network, we continue to provide the fastest route to market for new banking entrants seeking to differentiate themselves with innovation and excellent customer experience. With Finacle, Community Bank gains the flexibility to launch and update products and services to drive continuous innovation and accelerate growth.”

Gnana S.S, Chief Executive Officer, Best of Breed Software Solutions (India) Pvt Ltd., said, “A modern banking platform at Community Bank provides the bedrock on which the bank can build its growth plan. We are delighted to have deployed the industry’s leading core banking solution from Finacle at the Bank in record time ensuring that they attain their business objectives of growth and innovation”

Metro Bank has today announced a new partnership with award-winning Lending-as-a-Service (LaaS) provider ezbob to offer Metro Bank’s business customers fast, secure and competitive access to finance.

The new service will help Metro Bank in delivering a seamless, end-to-end small business lending process enabling SMEs to apply for business finance online.  Customers will be taken from application through ID&V, documentation, offer and acceptance in a matter of minutes; ultimately enabling funding to be released on the same day.  It is set to launch for Metro Bank customers in mid-2020.

With its streamlined, fully-managed digital lending proposition for financial institutions, ezbob is the market-leading LaaS provider in the UK today.  Its game-changing platform, which harnesses the latest AI advancements and data from the open banking environment, has been built from the ground up by experts in financial technology and commercial lending.

The new partnership comes as Metro Bank sets about injecting much needed competition into the small business banking market – deploying the funding it was awarded from the Capability & Innovation Fund alongside the Bank’s own investment. 

In 2019, Metro Bank also announced partnerships with Funding Options, Conance and DueDil as part of the Bank’s commitment to collaborating with UK SMEs and fintechs by embedding them into the products and services it provides.

Paul Riseborough, Chief Commercial Officer at Metro Bank, says:  “We know quick, reliable access to finance is crucial for small businesses to seize opportunities to grow.  By teaming up with ezbob, we’ll be able to help our customers secure the finance they need in a matter of minutes, giving them the edge in today’s competitive market.”

Tomer Guriel, Founder and CEO at ezbob, says:  “We are very proud to be able to provide Metro Bank, one of the UK’s most forward-thinking banks, with an automated SME lending solution that will cover the entire lending journey, including all aspects of compliance, risk and decisioning.  We see this as a long-term partnership and look forward to working with Metro Bank to ultimately deliver an outstanding, multi-product experience to their customers using ezbob’s market-leading solution.”

Path Solutions, a world leader in Sharia-compliant information technology solutions and services, is proud to announce recognition as ‘Best Technology Solution Provider to African Interest-Free Banking and Takaful’ award winner at the 2^nd International Interest-Free Banking and Takaful Forum that took place on February 18 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Interest-Free Banking and Takaful Awards aim to recognize best practices in interest-free finance and celebrate the success of institutions and individuals with an ultimate objective of promoting social responsibility, Sharia authenticity and commitment to the industry through disruptive innovation.

“We consider this award as yet another scorecard for our efforts in serving this segment as we strive to make a positive and sustainable impact on the global Islamic economy. Over the last 28 years, Path Solutions has consistently provided cutting-edge software solutions and innovation that drive differentiation and measurable business value to our clients to keep pace with the new Islamic Fintech landscape. We are pleased that our dedication has attracted industry recognition in different parts of the world, acknowledging our efforts to develop a more inclusive financial system”, commented Mohammed Kateeb, the Group Chairman & CEO of Path Solutions. “We are proud to have been selected by the judging panel of AlHuda CIBE, and what makes this award extra special is receiving it in Africa which is an important market we deeply believe in and we proudly continue to focus on serving”, he said.

ClearCourse Partnership LLP (“ClearCourse” or “the Group”), a group of innovative technology companies providing digital services, work-flow solutions, and payments capabilities to the membership, events & bookings, sports & leisure and healthcare sectors, today announces the acquisition of Felinesoft (“the Company”). Felinesoft provides digital and operational solutions for some of the UK’s most established businesses and charities.

Since its foundation in 2001, Felinesoft has built its position as a well-respected industry provider of technology products and digital service solutions, including user experience design, Microsoft Dynamics 365, digital transformation and website and app development. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, its customers have access to in-house Microsoft certified developers offering the highest levels of service across Microsoft’s Dynamics platform and its cloud services. The Company’s continuous improvement model allows it to provide ongoing digital transformation, improving all areas of technology that are relevant to its clients. Felinesoft has worked with an array of recognisable UK businesses, such as Macmillan, British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, Kennel Club, and Age UK.

The addition of Felinesoft to the Group strengthens ClearCourse’s growing presence in the not-for-profit and CRM industries, increasing the scope of its sector specific integration capabilities. Felinesoft will receive strategic and operational guidance from ClearCourse’s expert team, as well as financial resources to support the expansion of its technology products and its acquisitive ambitions. Additionally, the Company will be able to integrate with proprietary technologies from across the Group, including payments processing capabilities and first-class data validation. 

Gerry Gualtieri, CEO of ClearCourse, commented: “Felinesoft has achieved a strong market position by offering an excellent level of service and expertise to its notable list of clients.  There are clear synergies with our existing Group companies, and they present another valuable opportunity for integration with our range of software solutions across the Group. In partnership with Felinesoft’s accomplished management team and dedicated employees, we look forward to supporting the Company’s continued growth.”

Ralph Johnson, Managing Director of Felinesoft, said: “We’re incredibly proud of the growth and scale we have achieved over the past 19 years. Gerry and the ClearCourse team have demonstrated a great understanding of the sectors we operate in and of the values we have built the business on, empowering companies with the tools to achieve their objectives. Being part of ClearCourse will give us access to the breadth of operational, strategic and financial support we need to enhance our customer service and the solutions available to our clients. We have watched the ClearCourse story evolve and are excited to join them on this journey.”

Worldline, European leader in the payments and transactional services industry, announces that it has obtained an A- rating following its first assessment by the CDP disclosure, which is recognized by the investors as the best reference rating for a company’s environmental awareness, governance and leadership to address climate change. As part of this exercise, Worldline reveals its long term Science Based Target (SBT) objectives to reduce CO2 emissions.

Worldline has significantly strengthened its focus and actions to fight the effects of climate change ever since the Paris Agreement came into effect in November 2016. As part of its robust strategy, Worldline is committed to implementing all the necessary actions, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to accelerate its transformation to become a low-carbon company by reducing the carbon intensity and energy consumption of its activities.

As part of its TRUST 2020 program, Worldline has made a special commitment to reduce its carbon intensity by 2,67% each year, to move to renewable energies in its energy consumption, extend the ISO 14001 certification to all its strategic data centers and sites with more than 500 employees and to reach carbon neutrality for all its activities.

CDP Rating

CDP provides a score based on the disclosure about a company’s actions to contribute to climate change mitigation, adaptation and transparency. Actions which are more fundamental to progress on combating climate change are awarded additional points. The scoring is designed to harness the competitive spirit of business to raise their ambition and spur action on corporate sustainability.

The rating for Worldline demonstrates that the company is ready to take another step forward, even more ambitious to play an active role in the fight against climate change at the European level. This comprehensive exercise was the opportunity for Worldline to re-assess and challenge its current climate strategy and action plan by having a quantifiable, financial and scientific approach of the environmental impact related to its business. Thanks to this transversal approach and methodology, Worldline has been able to better structure its environmental ambition, strategy and commitments, which have led to define two tangible and long term Science Based Target objectives:

1. Reducing the intensity of Worldline Group CO2 emissions by 2025 and by 2035 compared to our anticipated growth, which implies a reduction in absolute terms;
2. Encouraging Worldline 100 main suppliers to define SBT targets and ambition themselves, which covers the scope 3 that is the most significant for Worldline in terms of GHG emissions.

The CDP rating is also aligned with the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures), created in 2016 at the request of G20 ministers and supported by more than 340 leading investors. The objective of the TCFD is to make recommendations to help companies strengthen their climate governance. Following Worldline's TCFD gap analysis, the company carried out a financial assessment of its main climate risks and opportunities.

In collaboration with CDP, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and one of the We Mean Business Coalition commitments, the SBT initiative aims to provide companies with a clearly defined pathway on how much and how quickly they need to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Targets adopted by companies to reduce GHG emissions are considered “science-based” if they are in line with what the latest climate science says is necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement – to limit global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.

Sébastien Mandron, Worldline’s Corporate Social Responsibility Officer, stated: “CDP scoring is widely seen as the gold standard of corporate environmental responsibility and transparency. We are delighted to have received “A-“ score for our very first assessment by CDP and this result motivates us to do more and further scale-up our impact across our business and our value chain. At Worldline we believe that businesses have a critical role to play in tackling climate change and we are committed to working with our various partners and the wider industry to change the way we do business.”

 ICS Financial Systems (ICSFS), the global software and services provider for banks and financial institutions, and a Gold level member of the OraclePartnerNetwork (OPN), has received ISV Partner of the Year at Oracle Partner Executive Forum - Levant & Egypt.

Oracle Partner Executive Forum - Levant & Egypt was held in Jordan at W Hotel Amman, on December 18, 2019. The forum is an annual exclusive invitation-only event, it highlighted the “Power of Together,” where it focused on innovation and alignment of strategy with Oracle’s partners to drive forces and network among the industry’s best. Oracle partners were recognized for their exceptional contributions and successes in an ever-so-exciting state-of-the-art environment.

ICSFS was recognised by Oracle for:

• Bringing Oracle's latest innovations to the financial services industry.
• One of the first ISV partners to certify and list its banking solutions on Oracle Cloud Marketplace for production use to its clients.
• One of the first Oracle ISV partners in the region onboarded onto Oracle Fintech & Open Banking API MarketPlace.
• One of the first to implement applications on Oracle Blockchain Platform  in production and closed two deals in 2019.
• Achieving record-breaking and unmatched results of its ICS BANKS software suites high-water mark performance benchmark on Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer.
• Consistent commitment and innovation by adopting Oracle Cloud’s strategy.
• An early adopter of Oracle Autonomous Transaction Processing (ATP), Oracle Data Safe, Oracle JET, Visual Builder and Oracle 19c to assist banks with their digital transformation journey.

ICSFS Managing Director; Robert Hazboun said: “ICSFS outrivals its peers by high-performance records and innovative technologies offered to its customers. We are honoured to be rocognised by Oracle as their ISV Partner of the year. This embarks another testament to our dedication and commitment to embracing business agility as a primary core driver in our products and services provided to our customers.”

ICSFS has demonstrated an outstanding level of innovation in delivering proven, Oracle-based Financial solutions that solve our joint customers’ most critical business challenges,” said Javier Torres, vice president, Alliances & Channels and ISV, EMEA and APAC, Oracle. “We congratulate ICSFS in achieving the ISV Partner of the Year Award  at the Oracle Partner Executive Forum. This achievement is a testament to their dedication to excellence and to providing customers with Oracle Financial Solutions that drive real business value and results.”

ICSFS invests in its software suites by utilising modern technology in launching new products, constructing a secured and agile integration, and keeping pace with new standards and regulations worldwide. ICS BANKS software suites future-proof banking activities by providing a broad range of features and capabilities with more agility and flexibility, to enrich customers' journey experience, hence improving the trust and confidentiality between the customer and the bank. ICS BANKS banking and financial solutions have always been a pioneer in utilising the latest technology to serve financial institutions. In addition to its embedded Service-Oriented-Architecture (SOA), the software can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud.