Misys Retail Banking is providing the core banking infrastructure to underpin the UK’s first Islamic bank. The bank will open its first branch in London next month to meet the demands of members of the Muslim community who require banking facilities that conform with the Quran (Sharia’a compliant). Islamic Bank of Britain will offer a state-of-the-art retail banking service with multiple channels and a sophisticated set of services, providing UK customers with an alternative to conventional banking that they can count on at any time and from any location.

Islamic Bank of Britain received authorisation from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on August 6 2004 to accept deposits and deal in investments. Sharia’a law requires profits to be shared and bans investment in certain industries such as those related to alcohol and gambling, as well as prohibiting interest and the handling of money as a commodity.

The first branch will open in September in London, quickly followed by branches in Birmingham and Leicester. The bank will also offer postal and telephone banking with Internet and mobile banking available to UK customers within the next 12 months. In addition to personal banking, Islamic Bank of Britain will also offer products and services for small businesses and professionals.

The system, Misys Equation, will provide Islamic Bank of Britain with a customer-focused, streamlined banking operation to enable better relationship management through a single customer view across all channels. For example, if the customer contacts the bank via telephone this will be recognised at the branch or online. In addition to this, the solution handles all financial transactions in accordance with Islamic law. Automated processing will enable the bank to deliver a fast and reliable service to customers and also optimise the bank’s cost base by keeping manual processing to a minimum.

“The 1.8m Muslims who live in the UK currently don’t have access to banking facilities which allow them to fulfil their religious obligations. Several banks offer Islamic products such as mortgages, but these aren’t ‘purely’ Islamic as they are financed from within a conventional bank,” said Michael Hanlon, managing director of Islamic Bank of Britain.

“Demand for Islamic banking is growing among the Muslim population and our bank will ensure they can use an organisation that truly considers the requirements of their faith. However, we also intend to position our proposition competitively and promote it as an alternative to conventional bank offerings, which we hope will be of interest to the wider consumer market. The Misys system will enable our bank to be entirely customer-focused, ensuring efficiency and accuracy for our customers but, most importantly, enable us to deliver on our brand promises of trust, value and convenience,” said Hanlon.

Misys has been working with Islamic Bank of Britain since October 2003 to deliver a retail banking system that will support the bank’s multi-channel proposition and Islamic products. The system has the flexibility and scalability to enable the bank to expand its operation and operate in different regulatory regions.

Andrew Derrer, CEO of Misys Retail Banking, said, “Islamic Bank of Britain has recognised the increasing demand for pure Islamic banking services in the UK. They are offering a modern, ethical banking service with strong features that may well prove to have a wider appeal than the Muslim community. We work very closely with a number of banks in the Middle East and this is a great opportunity for us to work on a landmark project in the UK, reflecting our expertise elsewhere in the world. With over 20 years experience in Islamic markets and over 70 clients in the Middle East relying on Misys for their core banking systems, we know the issues that banks face in delivering robust, efficient and compliant Islamic financial products and services.”

For further press information on Misys, please contact:
Alex Shepherd
Cohn & Wolfe
Tel: +44 20 7331 5385
alex_shepherd@uk.cohnwolfe.com

For further press information on Islamic Bank of Britain, please contact:
Paula Mitchell
McCann Erickson
Tel: 0121 713 3775
Paula.mitchell@europe.mccann.com

About Misys Retail Banking
Misys Retail Banking is the global retail banking systems vendor that provides innovative packaged software solutions to help retail banks improve business processes, develop new revenue streams, enhance customer relationships and reduce costs. The business employs over 700 people and operates out of a network of offices in 28 countries.

Misys offers two leading retail banking software solutions. Bankmaster is a fully integrated set of banking applications that provides the flexibility to bring new and varied products to market and supports multi-delivery channels. Equation is an integrated, multi-currency, multi-lingual retail banking system that supports all areas of a bank’s operation from a single automation platform.

Misys Retail Banking is part of Misys plc, the global software products and solutions company, that serves customers in the international banking and securities, international healthcare and UK general insurance industries. Through a wholly owned subsidiary, Sesame, Misys also provides business process outsourcing services to independent financial advisers in the UK. Misys partners with its customers to deliver outstanding IT solutions to essential industries. . It employs over 6,000 people internationally, with customers in over 120 countries and reported revenues of £900m (US$1.5bn) for the year ended 31 May 2004.

For further information, visit misys retail banking

For further information on Islamic Bank of Britain, visit www.islamic-bank.com