Successful roll-out of iMAL at Burj Bank

With the successful roll-out of iMAL at Burj Bank, Path Solutions has executed a record core banking replacement for projects of similar size. The implementation of iMAL, which was a key part of the bank's transformation initiatives has started in May 2012 and was completed on Monday 4th February 2013.

"Prior to Go Live, we had carried out multiple simulation exercises at country level, ensured validity of data and also ensured that training was imparted to staff countrywide. This was an error free cut over and a unique example of seamless migration, given the fact that the team had a limited delivery time of nine months for migration from Symbols to iMAL - which is an implementation in record time never done before", commented Ghazanfar Siddique, Project Head - Core Banking, Information Technology at Burj Bank.

In an extract of letter from Ahmed Khizer Khan, the CEO of Burj Bank to the bank's key project members, Khan said "This is an amazing achievement, only made possible with the hard work and long hours put in by the in-house core banking team as well as the provision of excellent training and support by Path Solutions' project team."

Commenting on the migration process, Alain Abou Khalil, SVP Global Professional Services at Path Solutions said, "Burj Bank is a large Islamic bank with 75 branches and tremendous amount of data to be migrated. The migration to the new core banking system has been accomplished on time and on budget within nine-month schedule achieving high level of customer satisfaction. The new core banking system was rolled out with a big bang approach and was implemented across the 75 branches in one go, without any issues. The EOD (End of Day) was also successfully executed, confirming the accuracy of financials."

According to Mitri Karam, Project Director PS at Path Solutions, multiple success factors led to the successful roll-out of iMAL at Burj Bank. Among them the detailed scoping exercise carried out by both parties, the exceptional handling of the whole migration exercise, Path Solutions' outstanding Project Management and Implementation Methodologies and experience in delivering core banking projects and of course the commitment and dedication of Burj Bank and Path Solutions' PMO and project teams.

Burj Bank is currently using iMAL Islamic Core Banking Solution for the following banking operations:

- Branch Automation

- Corporate Internet Banking

- Retail and Corporate Financing

- Collection Management

- Financing Application Management

- ATMs

- Islamic Profit Calculation

- Accounting & Financial Control

- SWIFT & RTGS Transfers

- Reporting.