ADDIS ABABA – Bank of Abyssinia has gone live with iMAL Islamic Financing and iMAL Profit Calculation System for its Islamic window operations

Announcing the launch of the system today, Azentio Software, a Singapore-based tech firm, said it has “successfully delivered the system in a record” time of less than four months.

The system enabled the Bank’s all profit rate adjustments to be made within the confines of the rules of Islamic jurisprudence and handled automatically.

“We are proud to support BoA, one of the leading private banks in Ethiopia, to achieve the highest levels of transparency and complete automation to manage the restricted and unrestricted Islamic investments, compute and share profits as prescribed by the Shariah,” said Mohammed Kateeb, Global Head of Islamic Banking at Azentio.

The system, he said, will also enable the Bank to compete with both Islamic banks and conventional banking methods.

Islamic banking has been growing rapidly in recent years in Ethiopia.

“Choosing the right technology partner was critical to stay nimble and move fast,” said Abdulkadir Redwan, Director of Interest Free Banking at BoA, after the system went live.

“This partnership will create an edge for our Islamic banking operations to operate in a more Shariah-compliant manner and comply with the National Bank of Ethiopia’s regulations,” he added.

The Bank of Abyssinia currently has a network of 608 branches.

Last year, the bank’s gross profit increased by 90% to 2.02 billion birr while its total assets expanded by 82.5% to reach 103.5 billion Birr.