As part of its plans to improve procedures related to the implementation of processes, controls and regulations, Alinma Bank has signed an agreement with Thomson Reuters to develop a new Shariah-compliant deal application with a fully automated deal workflow solution that would support Shariah-compliant financial transactions. A team from Alinma Bank worked closely and cooperatively with a team from Thomson Reuters to implement the project successfully.
The application, which is the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, provides a real-time view of Shariah-compliant deals, through an automated online system that yields greater efficiency by minimizing the process of tracking transactions.
Shariah-compliant banking and finance has shown robust growth and increasing sophistication in recent years. According to the 2016 State of the Thomson Reuters Global Islamic Economy, the sector is expected to reach $3.5 trillion by 2021. However, financial institutions still face unique challenges in managing deal workflows, including compliance issues as well as the time-consuming manual processing of all deals.
Speaking about the agreement, Abdullah Al Zahrani, Head of Treasury at Alinma, said that he was pleased to have Thomson Reuters’ support the bank’s efforts to forge ahead in leveraging the latest technologies to enhance Alinma’s performance.
“We are delighted to be the first bank in Saudi Arabia to partner with Thomson Reuters to bring innovative solutions to the Shariah-compliant banking and finance industry in Saudi Arabia,” said Al Zahrani. “The application integrates deal tickets into Alinma’s core system as valid Shariah-compliant tickets by analyzing and mapping the data of the tickets and conversations, generating enhanced tickets in the back office system. Such innovations help Alinma work towards being a leader in the industry.”
Nadim Najjar, Managing Director, Middle East and North Africa, Thomson Reuters, said, “The application is a unique example of how innovation can help tackle industry challenges. The process of tracking Shariah-compliant transactions was done manually across the industry. It also involved human resources and was time consuming. This innovative application automates the validation process and offers a seamless digital solution for a problem that has existed for a long time in this growing industry.”