A new model digital bank is to bring banks from across the Arab League into the digital services space.
The model is the outcome of a partnership between Union of Arab Banks and Finastra, and will be licensed to Union of Arab Banks members to help them transition into digital banking and offer their customers enhanced digital services.
According to research by UABdigital, 78 per cent of Arab state banks say they are ‘well on their way’ with digital. However, resource management remains a central challenge.
The model will be developed by Finastra and UABdigital, the Union’s digital arm, to help solve resource management challenges through a shared ecosystem of assets.
It will be connected with Finastra’s open development and innovation platform, FusionFabric.cloud, and will be application programming interface (API)-enabled.
This will allow banks to use the functionalities they need and build integration layers on top for localisation, customisation and regional compliance.
It will incorporate supplementary capabilities, such as open banking readiness and central bank digital currency (CBDC) proofing.
As the environmental impact of finance becomes an increasingly central topic, the makers have also incorporated elements that fulfil several of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Thirty-five Arab League banks have expressed interest in the solution so far.
Suleiman Barada
“Building a truly digital bank can be time-consuming and costly for many of our member banks,” comments Suleiman Barada, senior advisor and head of UABdigital. “With Finastra, we’ve identified a need to simplify this undertaking to help accelerate the pace of digital transformation for banks across the Arab states.
“Based on a mutual focus around open banking and digital transformation, our collaboration with Finastra will help our members to remain competitive.
“We intend to work closely with regulators to ensure compliance by design, helping to expedite adoption.”
Ahmed Khalifa
Ahmed Khalifa, director, partners and ecosystem MEA at Finastra, added: “The Union of Arab Banks plays an essential role in the Arab financial and banking community by fostering collaboration and keeping up with the latest innovation trends.
“Combined with our expertise in open banking, BaaS and FusionFabric.cloud, we believe that together we can help banks to offer innovative banking services, with agility and speed.”
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