Shamil Bank Invests 6 Bn Riyals in Islamic Banking Software

Path Solutions, provider of Islamic banking software solutions, announced that Shamil Bank of Yemen and Bahrain (“SBYB”), the third largest Islamic bank in Yemen, with a fully paid capital of 6bn Yemeni Riyals, has gone live with Path Solutions’ iMAL Islamic core banking suite.

SBYB is focused on expanding the range of Islamic products available to retail and corporate customers and improving the level of customer experience. “We want to position ourselves as a leading provider of innovative products and customer-friendly Islamic banking services in Yemen”, said Saeed Bazara, General Manager of SBYB.

“Deployment of effective technology is a key element in enabling SBYB to deliver first-class banking services to its privileged clientele. We have been working closely with Path Solutions’ project team to ensure a smooth transition from our bank’s systems to iMAL, which we believe will address the challenges of real-time availability, scalability, improved time to market and enhanced modern banking services to our customers”, Bazara confirmed.

SBYB has officially gone live on Saturday the 2nd of October, after turning off its old systems. The decision was taken after 2 successful weeks of parallel run. The delivery channel implementation consisted of 10 branches, 5 decentralized using iMAL*Safe and 5 others centralized connected directly to the HO.

“Path Solutions is proud to be the trusted strategic IT partner to SBYB, and this is a significant step towards consolidating our success in the highly challenging Yemeni Islamic banking market”, said Alain Abou Khalil, VP Professional Services at Path Solutions. “The project is part of a modernization program for SBYB, and includes the deployment of a complete front-to-back-office solution with full branch automation, as well as trade finance, fixed assets, financial reporting, SWIFT messaging and e-banking modules. The system was delivered using Sun servers”.

SBYB is now benefiting from the most advanced Islamic banking solution available on the market. With Path Solutions’ iMAL, the bank has greatly enhanced its ability to process trade finance transactions and grow its trade business as well as improve its local compliance and performance management capabilities.