Sonali Bangladesh UK boosts Shariah-compliant services with Finastra

By Gloria Methri

Sonali Bangladesh UK (SBUK), a London-based financial institution providing trade finance services to Bangladesh, has partnered with Finastra to transform its banking operations. By implementing Finastra Essence, a feature-rich, SaaS core banking solution deployed on Microsoft Azure Cloud, SBUK aims to offer its corporate and banking clients a wide range of digital products and services.

This implementation will support both Shariah-compliant and conventional banking, aligning with the diverse needs of its customer base.

“SBUK has been serving the Bangladeshi community for more than 50 years, and we have ambitious plans to grow and evolve our institution,” said Masum Billah, CEO at Sonali Bangladesh UK. “We needed a core banking platform that is highly agile, and that can help us meet the sophisticated demands of everyone in the community we serve. With its rich features and broad functionality, Finastra’s solution will help us to enhance the services we provide to corporates and banks for both Islamic and conventional finance, while enabling our long-term growth. Combined with Finastra’s management and expertise, we are confident about what the future has in store for SBUK.”

Finastra Essence is a cloud-first, next-generation core banking solution that combines deep functionality and advanced technology to increase enterprise agility, reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. Powered by an open microservices architecture, Essence’s rich, broad and deep banking functionality enables institutions to deploy products and services rapidly.

The solution caters to conventional banking and the specific needs that Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) require when offering Sharia-compliant products and services. This enables institutions like SBUK to serve both demographics through one core banking platform effectively.

“Running two separate core banking systems to support Islamic and conventional banking can bring many challenges, such as increased costs and risks as well as poorer customer experiences and agility,” said Siobhan Byron, EVP of Universal Banking at Finastra. “By implementing Essence via the cloud to serve both segments, SBUK is mitigating these risks while embracing new opportunities, such as increased market share and the scalability and hyper-personalised services enabled by truly digital banking. This also aligns closely with Finastra’s Open Finance ambition to help transform societies and deliver more people access to the banking services they need to prosper.”