Rafidain bank, the Iraqi state-owned bank, has signed a
core banking technology deal with UK consortium Misys/B-Plan
Information Systems. It is part of a wider government initiative to
modernise the country’s dilapidated banking sector and prepare it
for potential future stability and growth. William Cain
reports.
Rafidain Bank, the largest state bank in Iraq, has been given
government approval to sign a core banking technology deal with a
Misys/B-Plan Information Systems consortium.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Rafidain selected the integrated turnkey core banking solution
offered by the UK businesses to underpin a restructuring programme
– part of a wider campaign being promoted by Iraq’s finance
ministry. And B-Plan Information Systems’ chief operating officer,
Farhad Abid, told RBI there will be more deals in the
country.
He said: “Rafidain Bank is the main bank in Iraq and it’s at the
focus of the government reform and change, so the Misys/B-Plan
solution is a major step forward. The government is looking to roll
out solutions for more banks and we’re already working on securing
a second contract in the country with Rasheed Bank, the country’s
second-largest. We’re confident our deal with Rafidain will have a
bearing on that.”
Bayan Jabr, Iraq’s Minister of Finance, said: “I am determined to
modernise the banks. My wish is that every Iraqi citizen has a Visa
card and for every Iraqi citizen to have a bank account which he is
able to manage through the internet, regardless of whether he is a
government employee or not. This is my dream, which I am working to
make a reality. I have now signed a contract for such a system for
Rafidain Bank.”
The project, which Misys claims is one of the largest in the world,
will allow the bank to deliver competitive products and service to
Rafidain’s domestic and international customers. The solution
includes the deployment of electronic clearing systems, the core
banking solution from Misys and the supporting hardware and
communications network across the bank’s 148 domestic and seven
international branches in Beirut, Cairo, Jordan, Abu Dhabi, Manama
(Bahrain) and Sana’a (Yemen). Misys claimed it had been chosen
ahead of competing bids from Temenos and Systems Access.
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By GlobalData
Decline in banking profit
Misys’s interim 2007 results, published at the end of January,
showed operating profit was up 19 percent to £25 million ($49.6
million), from £21 million in the first half of fiscal year 2006.
But most of the growth came from its operations outside banking,
where revenues climbed only marginally and profit declined
year-on-year, from £6 million in the first half of 2006 to £5
million in the first six months of fiscal year 2007.
CEO Mike Lawrie said: “Our first half financial performance clearly
shows that we are delivering in line with the strategy we set out
in March last year… Banking and Treasury & Capital Markets
both continue to make good progress with a number of new name
wins.”
