Bayan Qasem, PIB (left) and Jean-Michel Hilsenkopf, Temenos (right)
Palestine Islamic Bank (PIB) has chosen Temenos’ Infinity front office platform and T24 Transact core banking system for its digital revamp.
Founded in Palestine in 1995, PIB operates a network of 43 branches, making it the largest Islamic banking network in the country.
Bayan Qasem, general manager at PIB, says: “We selected Temenos as our technology partner to future-proof our ongoing growth transform the customer experience and achieve operational excellence.”
As part of the deal, PIB also gets Islamic banking capabilities, analytics and reporting; and risk and compliance. It is understood the new software will replace the ICS Banks system from ICS Financial Systems (ICSFS), which has been running in the bank for a decade.
Interestingly, at the start of 2018, PIB selected a different supplier and tech – Oracle FSS’s Flexcube (core banking) and analytical applications. The project, however, was shelved with the arrival of a new shareholder later that year, The National Bank (TNB). Via its buy-out vehicle – the National Islamic Investment Company – TNB bought 45% of PIB for $70 million, making it the majority shareholder. TNB is already a T24 Transact user (it went live with the system in 2017).
Temenos states that PIB selected its offerings following a “rigorous, competitive evaluation”.
Other users of T24 Transact in Palestine include SAFA Bank.