Azentio delivers Shariah-compliant profit calculation and distribution system for Bank of Abyssinia

By Leandra Monteiro

Azentio Software, a Singapore-based technology firm owned by funds advised by Apax Partners, announced that Bank of Abyssinia (“BoA”) has successfully gone live with iMAL*IslamicFinancing and iMAL*ProfitCalculationSystem in less than four months, to support the growth of its Islamic window operations.

Azentio’s Shariah-compliant profit calculation and distribution system makes profit distribution highly efficient. With the company’s AAOIFI-certified Islamic banking suite, BoA will be able to compete with both Islamic banks and conventional banking methods of interest pay-outs, in rates and customer satisfaction, reducing time-to-market for new products and distribution of profits. All profit rate adjustments are made within the confines of the rules of Islamic jurisprudence and handled automatically by the system.

Mohammed Kateeb, Global Head of Islamic Banking and President of Middle East & Africa at Azentio, commented, “We are proud to support BoA, one of the leading private banks in Ethiopia, to achieve the highest levels of transparency and complete automation to manage the restricted and unrestricted Islamic investments, compute and share profits as prescribed by the Shariah. iMAL*IslamicFinancing and iMAL*ProfitCalculationSystem were integrated online with the bank’s existing core banking platform and are running smoothly as standalone applications. The approach we adopted during the implementation phase was an innovative deviation from the normal one, enabling BoA to save the costly process of migration iterations, frequent CIF and account updates maintenance.”

Abdulkadir Redwan, Director – Interest Free Banking at BoA, said, “Islamic banking has been growing rapidly in recent years in Ethiopia. Choosing the right technology partner was critical to stay nimble and move fast. We made a great choice in partnering with Azentio, because of their in-depth experience, system understanding, vast industry expertise and the team professionalism. This partnership will create an edge for our Islamic banking operations to operate in a more Shariah-compliant manner and comply with the National Bank of Ethiopia’s regulations.”