Maldives Islamic Bank to deploy iMAL Islamic core banking solution

December 9, 2010 - Path Solutions and Maldives Islamic Bank Pvt. Ltd. (“MIB”) today announced that MIB, the first Islamic bank to be set up in Maldives, has selected Path Solutions’ iMAL for its core banking solution to infuse innovation and accelerate growth. By virtue of this agreement, Path Solutions shall roll out its sophisticated iMAL suite including Islamic Invest, Trade Finance, SWIFT, and reporting modules.

MIB is a collaboration between the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (“ICD”) - the private sector arm of the Islamic Development Bank - with 70% interest and the Government of Maldives which holds the remaining 30%. It received a banking licence to conduct Islamic banking business from the Maldives Monetary Authority (“MMA”) in August 2010.

MIB Chairman Khaled Al Aboodi said the bank hopes to capture up to 25% of its local market share within three years or so by offering Islamic finance products targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and fisheries.

Harith Harun, Managing Director of MIB commented, “MIB is focused on offering innovative Islamic banking products and solutions of international standards that meet the needs of corporate and retail clients, stimulating the demand for such services in the country. To meet its development requirements, MIB required a highly scalable, pure Islamic banking software system which could support faster product innovation and deliver a differentiated customer experience.”

With a 100% Muslim population of some 330,000 in Maldives, Harun expects strong demand for Sharia-compliant products to drive the bank’s future growth.

According to Mohammed Kateeb, Chairman & CEO, Path Solutions, “We are delighted to have signed this agreement with MIB. This partnership highlights Path Solutions’ commitment to support Sharia-compliant banks all around the world. We are also excited to work with new banks in this segment and we believe in MIB mission. iMAL powerful capabilities in fostering innovation, increasing productivity and meeting diverse customer needs empower start up banks to match in their service large successful conventional banks following a record implementation time.”

As part of the evaluation process, MIB considered several solutions from other major providers before selecting iMAL from Path Solutions, the best fit for product performance, reliability and scalability. The extensive selection process focused on acquiring a new generation technology to support the bank’s imperatives on Sharia compliance, customer centricity and time-to-market for business related changes.