Sonali Bangladesh UK (SBUK) Limited Selects Finastra to Provide Digital Banking, Including Enhanced Shariah-Compliant Services

Digital banking
01.10.2024 10:15 am

Finastra is pleased to announce that Sonali Bangladesh UK (SBUK), a UK-based financial institution providing trade finance services to Bangladesh, has chosen its solution to transform the institution’s banking operations. By implementing Finastra Essence, a feature-rich, SaaS core banking solution deployed on Microsoft Azure Cloud, SBUK aims to offer its corporate and banking clients a wide range of digital products and services. This implementation will support both Shariah-compliant and conventional banking, aligning with the diverse needs of its customer base.

To commemorate the collaboration, the leadership teams from SBUK and Finastra Universal Banking recently gathered at Finastra’s London office for a signing ceremony.

“SBUK has been serving the Bangladeshi community for more than 50 years, and we have ambitious plans to grow and evolve our institution,” said Masum Billah, CEO at Sonali Bangladesh UK. “We needed a core banking platform that is highly agile and that can help us meet the sophisticated demands of everyone in the community we serve. With its rich features and broad functionality, Finastra’s market-leading solution will help us to enhance the services we provide to corporates and banks for both Islamic and conventional finance, while enabling our long-term growth. Combined with Finastra’s management and expertise, we are confident about what the future has in store for SBUK.”

Finastra Essence is a cloud-first, next-generation core banking solution that combines deep functionality and advanced technology to increase enterprise agility, reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. Powered by an open, microservices architecture, Essence's rich, broad and deep banking functionality enables institutions to rapidly deploy market-leading products and services. The solution caters for both conventional banking and the specific needs that Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) require when offering Sharia-compliant products and services. This enables institutions like SBUK to effectively serve both demographics through one core banking platform.

“Running two separate core banking systems to support Islamic and conventional banking can bring many challenges, such as increased costs and risks as well as poorer customer experiences and agility,” said Siobhan Byron, EVP Universal Banking at Finastra. “By implementing Essence via the cloud to serve both segments, SBUK is mitigating these risks while embracing new opportunities, such as increased market share and the scalability and hyper-personalized services enabled by truly digital banking. It’s the combination of the right technology and deep understanding of both areas of banking that will help SBUK to future-proof its business and accelerate growth, while reimagining banking. This also aligns closely with Finastra's Open Finance ambition to help transform societies and deliver more people access to the banking services they need to prosper.”