Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd yesterday announced a strategic collaboration with Cognizant, a leading global business and technology consulting firm, to lay the foundation of digital banking platform across the Bank’s entire network.
The agreement was signed by Khairul Kamarudin, Chief Executive Officer of Bank Islam, and Effendi Azmi Hashim, Malaysia Business Leader of Cognizant, at a ceremony held at Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
Speaking at the signing, Khairul said: “Bank Islam will continue applying digital technology to our products and services, bringing greater accessibility to our customers, as well as simplifying and improving their banking experience with us.”
Bank Islam, he pointed out, has always strived to design innovative solutions to transform our customers’ experience of banking. By partnering with Cognizant to build a digital bank, the Bank is taking a big leap into the future to deliver cutting edge innovative solutions to SMEs and customers across country, and integrate them seamlessly into the developing digital economy in Malaysia.
He shared that digitalisation will help Bank Islam accelerate SME banking by providing business solutions for their operational as well as expansion needs. It will enable the Bank to rapidly tap the rural, underbanked segments and boost financial inclusion by overcoming cost and physical barriers.
“Bank Islam will be able to combine its energy, continuous innovation and imagination of Fintech start-ups with its solid balance sheet, trust, customer service and banking expertise. By capitalising on digital technologies, Bank Islam will be able to transform Islamic banking as envisioned by Bank Negara Malaysia.”
Cognizant’s Head of Asia-Pacific, Jayajyoti Sengupta in a statement, said: “For banks of the new digital economy, leadership is about delivering hyper-personalised products, services, and experiences to customers across channels by continually turning digital data into actionable insights. We are proud to be a part of Bank Islam’s vision to transform itself into a digitally-led bank of the future.”
“By leveraging our extensive consulting and digital banking capabilities, we look forward to creating a business, operating and technology roadmap for Bank Islam to realise the full promise of digital in driving greater customer satisfaction and differentiated growth. The opportunity to partner with a leading financial services institution such as Bank Islam marks an important milestone in our growth journey in Malaysia.”
In another development, Bank Islam recently received two notable awards. These are the ‘Best Islamic ESG Bank Award’ by The Assets Triple A Islamic Finance Award and ‘Company of the Year’ during the CSR Malaysia Awards 2017 which acknowledges our contributions towards societal development, positive management of the environment and greater transparency.