Bank Islam’s Digital Banking Initiative Will Cover All Segment Of Society, Including Gig Workers

Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad has been embarking on a transformation of its conventional banking products to a more expansive method with digital solutions. The bank created a platform-based solution called Centre of Digital Experience or CDX that will enable customers to have better access to Shariah-compliant products.

The platform is also designed to allow potential partners such as fintechs, digital marketplaces and other strategic vendors to plug in directly and at ease, this is being constructed as the bank prepares to be a fully progressive digital bank with Islamic banking values steeply ingrained.

To his effect the bank has appointed two infrastructure partners for this journey – Mambu, a market leading SaaS banking platform and Experian, a leading global information services company – while a Memorandum of Understanding has also been inked with a local fintech player, Pod, to develop new product offerings. This digital-first approach would see Bank Islam applying next generation technology such as Cloud Native Digital Banking and the Electronic Know Your Customer (“eKYC”) to its products and services. Mambu will assist the Bank to configure Shariah-compliant banking products, while Experian will provide the eKYC solution which will enable customers to open a bank account without having to step into a bank branch.

On the product front, CDX is in the midst of developing an alternative credit scoring model in collaboration with Pod. Together, CDX and Pod will explore solutions for customers who are generally overlooked by financial institutions, such as gig workers. This will be done by identifying alternative ways to assess credit worthiness of customers, beyond traditional means, enabling flexibility and inclusion in the formal banking system for this segment.

Bank Islam’s Chief Executive Officer, Mohd Muazzam Mohamed said, “Bank Islam via CDX has appointed prominent strategic partners, namely Mambu, Experian and Pod, to address the needs of the underserved segments. The Bank is confident that we can provide greater accessibility to the market by capitalising on digital technologies. At the same time, this effort will further spur the digital transformation of the financial sector, especially in the Islamic banking industry.”

Pod’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Nadia Ismadi said, “The underserved segments including gig workers are struggling to save money, have access to financing and consume financial products; even more so after the pandemic. Pod exists because we believe the job market as we know it is changing and soon, majority of the workforce will fall under the informal sector. Thus, it is important that we lay the basic building blocks to deep dive into their financial needs in order to service these segments.”

Mambu CEO appreciates the sentiment and is delighted that Bank Islam has chosen to build CDX’s greenfield operations on the platform.

Bank Islam has challenged itself to be the leading Islamic bank in the region and this implementation is a big step forward. The CDX solution is expected to be out in the second quarter of 2021.

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