Bank Islam, US based Cognizant to push ahead with digital banking

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd (BIMB) has inked a strategic collaboration with US-based Cognizant to lay the foundation of digital banking platform across the bank's entire network.

By partnering with Cognizant to build a digitalised banking space, Bank Islam shall jointly develop Fintech solutions, such as peer to peer financing, crowdfunding, mobile payments, wealth management, and remittance platforms to develop innovative products and services at a competitive pricing. 

Through digitalisation, Bank Islam will be able to accelerate small and medium enterprise (SME) banking by providing business solutions for operational and expansion needs. 

Bank Islam will also be able to rapidly tap into the rural, underbanked segments and boost financial inclusion by overcoming cost and physical barriers.

Speaking after the signing ceremony of the collaboration agreement, Bank Islam CEO Khairul Kamarudin said that there is no investment cost involved in this partnership, where both parties will leverage on each other's strengths.

"We are not engaging a consultancy, but rather, we are collaborating with Cognizant.

"Together, we will identify suitable fintech products that will be submitted to Bank Negara's regulatory sandbox.

"The product(s) shall only be launched upon regulatory approval by the central bank," he said.

Going forward, Bank Islam intends to develop fintech products targeted towards the retail banking and SME segments.

The bank aims to roll out at least one fintech product, related to retail banking, by the second quarter of 2018.

To date, there are a total of 900,000 mobile banking customers of Bank Islam.

"We hope to see a total of 2 million Bank Islam customers migrate to the digital platform by 2019," Khairul added.