Path Solutions, a global vendor of Sharia-compliant banking software solutions for the Islamic financial services industry, said that it has concluded a strategic contract for its iMAL Islamic Banking and Investment System with Meethaq, the Islamic banking arm of Bank Muscat Oman.
The official signing held at the bank’s corporate office had Mr. Sulaiman Al Harthy, group general manager – Islamic Banking at Meethaq, Mr. Muhammad Nadeem Aslam, head-Islamic Banking and Mr. Taimore Ikram Alvi, project manager from Meethaq, and Mr. Mohammed Kateeb, group chairman & CEO of Path Solutions, Mr. Nabil Alduraidi, regional director-Sales and Mr. Majo Mathew, sales manager from Path Solutions in attendance.
Bank Muscat is the first and largest commercial bank in the Sultanate of Oman to receive the Central Bank of Oman approval and begin operations through an independent Islamic banking window as per the requirements of Islamic banking regulatory framework of the CBO. The bank uses Temenos T24 for its conventional banking operations but iMAL was finalized for its Islamic banking operations.
“We searched for a new, state-of-the-art Islamic core banking solution incorporating the latest technology, ideally built to meet our bank individual requirements of Sharia compliance, cutting costs, improving profitability, servicing customers faster and smoothening processes”, commented Sulaiman Al Harthy, group general manager – Islamic Banking at Meethaq.
“All I can say is that Path Solutions’ iMAL is the best Islamic core banking system compared to competition”, he further said.
Path Solutions’ iMAL is the 1st Sharia-compliant software system that was fully certified by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) back in 2008.
It is an integrated, modular Islamic banking suite with full functionality, including retail, corporate, investment, trade finance, and treasury modules. It supports multi-company and multi-bank environments and is truly global in scope, incorporating both multi-currency and multi-lingual capabilities.
In addition, iMAL contains robust risk management and security features that provide a flexible, user-friendly interface while allowing Islamic banks to have complete control over their financial systems.
“We have competed against the main players in the sector for this bid and are excited that our efforts have resulted in this major strategic client win. Bank Muscat is already using our Islamic Banking and Investment System iMAL in its subsidiaries in KSA and Kuwait. This win is an endorsement of the strong acceptance we have gained globally both for our Sharia-compliant banking solutions and for the high quality service provided by our team”, said Mohammed Kateeb, Path Solutions’ group chairman & CEO.
Industry consolidation, increasing compliance and competitive advantage are some of the other key motivators for Meethaq to select Path Solutions’ iMAL Islamic core banking system for its full-fledged Islamic banking operations.