06 February 2012
MUSCAT: Global information technology giant Infosys, which has its popular universal banking solution product Finacle, will be investing in Oman to further strengthen its presence in the country.
International Information Technology Company (IITC), part of OHI group, will now be Finacle's partner in the region to provide sales, service and post-sales support to its customers in the region. The partnership is targeting retail, wholesale and universal banks in the region to offer next generation banking solutions.
Emphasising that there is clearly a need of how technology is going to drive business and customer relationship, Senior Vice President & Global Head, Finacle, Haragopal Mangipudi, on a recent visit to Oman, indicated, "Oman is a very interesting market for us, primarily for multiple reasons; one, economy is robust and growing; two, both in terms of retail as well as corporate services, banks here demonstrate excellent appetite and clearly there is a good amount of opportunity and Islamic finance is a key thrust area."
He said, "Key markets in the middle East include Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Jordan which have significant presence. The new growth markets are Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar."
Haragopal said banks using Finacle number 150 worldwide which account for 347 million customers across six continents, close to five per cent of planet population. If you take bank's population, it would be about 14 per cent.
An alumnus of IIM Bangalore, Haragopal who has been associated for 23 years in the banking software products space, said, "As a technology provider Finacle is present in 75 countries and we have registered a cumulative annual growth rate of around 29 per cent in the last five years."
"It is good if you compare with other competitors. Finacle has had a fabulous success in the current year as well, in the first three quarters we registered a revenue of $239 million, which is about 14.5 per cent over the first nine months of the last year; quarter-on-quarter, in third quarter, we grew 19.5 per cent. Finacle has 17 customers in the Middle East and still growing, each of these customers have been able to set leadership in their respective markets. Finacle's offering for core banking solutions has been the leader."
Haragopal said that in the dramatically changed finance scenario, what really enables the banks to build a lasting competitive advantage is the ability to continuously innovate, achieve differentiation and here Finacle's core banking solutions fits to the hilt.
Explaining about the different portfolio, the banker-technologist said, "We have taken a portfolio approach, banks are service institutions and they need to innovate continuously and they need partners to sustain. Over the years we have added to the suite of Finacle a mini new growth engine, like for example, a channel banking, Internet banking, retail internet banking, mobile platform as well."
Talking about investments, Haragopal said, we invest significantly every year close to 20 per cent of our top line, in product R & D. Keen to grab a share in the evolving Islamic finance domain, Haragopal said, "Islamic finance is a key thrust area. What we have done is, unlike the players, since Islamic finance has emerged as a thrust area we went in with full focus and vigour rather than just tweaking here. We looked at how to integrate the entire architecture of core banking. We already have customers in the region and so are also investing into Islamic finance as we see in it a great potential.'
Touching on the new version of Finacle, he said, "Finacle e-Banking Version 11 delivers a rich, intuitive and persona driven online banking experience, catering to the individual needs of retail customers. It combines enhanced customer experience with rich functionality. Powerful features such as personal financial management enable customers to plan, manage and track their finances in real-time through visual dashboards and rich tools."
"While cloud computing and mobile computing are seen as major drivers in various areas of business, such as traditional banking, wealth management could also become a major area of opportunity for banks."
MUSCAT: Global information technology giant Infosys, which has its popular universal banking solution product Finacle, will be investing in Oman to further strengthen its presence in the country.
International Information Technology Company (IITC), part of OHI group, will now be Finacle's partner in the region to provide sales, service and post-sales support to its customers in the region. The partnership is targeting retail, wholesale and universal banks in the region to offer next generation banking solutions.
Emphasising that there is clearly a need of how technology is going to drive business and customer relationship, Senior Vice President & Global Head, Finacle, Haragopal Mangipudi, on a recent visit to Oman, indicated, "Oman is a very interesting market for us, primarily for multiple reasons; one, economy is robust and growing; two, both in terms of retail as well as corporate services, banks here demonstrate excellent appetite and clearly there is a good amount of opportunity and Islamic finance is a key thrust area."
He said, "Key markets in the middle East include Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Jordan which have significant presence. The new growth markets are Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar."
Haragopal said banks using Finacle number 150 worldwide which account for 347 million customers across six continents, close to five per cent of planet population. If you take bank's population, it would be about 14 per cent.
An alumnus of IIM Bangalore, Haragopal who has been associated for 23 years in the banking software products space, said, "As a technology provider Finacle is present in 75 countries and we have registered a cumulative annual growth rate of around 29 per cent in the last five years."
"It is good if you compare with other competitors. Finacle has had a fabulous success in the current year as well, in the first three quarters we registered a revenue of $239 million, which is about 14.5 per cent over the first nine months of the last year; quarter-on-quarter, in third quarter, we grew 19.5 per cent. Finacle has 17 customers in the Middle East and still growing, each of these customers have been able to set leadership in their respective markets. Finacle's offering for core banking solutions has been the leader."
Haragopal said that in the dramatically changed finance scenario, what really enables the banks to build a lasting competitive advantage is the ability to continuously innovate, achieve differentiation and here Finacle's core banking solutions fits to the hilt.
Explaining about the different portfolio, the banker-technologist said, "We have taken a portfolio approach, banks are service institutions and they need to innovate continuously and they need partners to sustain. Over the years we have added to the suite of Finacle a mini new growth engine, like for example, a channel banking, Internet banking, retail internet banking, mobile platform as well."
Talking about investments, Haragopal said, we invest significantly every year close to 20 per cent of our top line, in product R & D. Keen to grab a share in the evolving Islamic finance domain, Haragopal said, "Islamic finance is a key thrust area. What we have done is, unlike the players, since Islamic finance has emerged as a thrust area we went in with full focus and vigour rather than just tweaking here. We looked at how to integrate the entire architecture of core banking. We already have customers in the region and so are also investing into Islamic finance as we see in it a great potential.'
Touching on the new version of Finacle, he said, "Finacle e-Banking Version 11 delivers a rich, intuitive and persona driven online banking experience, catering to the individual needs of retail customers. It combines enhanced customer experience with rich functionality. Powerful features such as personal financial management enable customers to plan, manage and track their finances in real-time through visual dashboards and rich tools."
"While cloud computing and mobile computing are seen as major drivers in various areas of business, such as traditional banking, wealth management could also become a major area of opportunity for banks."
© Times of Oman 2012
