Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad (Bank Muamalat) has formed an extensive partnership with Backbase, a global engagement banking platform, as part of its strategic plan to become a next-generation digital Islamic bank for all. This collaboration, together with Mambu’s core banking transformation, represents a key milestone in Bank Muamalat’s efforts to reinvent its digital Islamic banking solutions.
Innovating towards a unified Islamic digital banking experience by bridging silos and traditional banking processes, Bank Muamalat uses platform technology to achieve their aim of creating an outstanding customer-centric experience. With the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform acting as the main platform, Bank Muamalat can design distinctive and personalised customer journeys that are secure, consistent, scalable, and enable end-to-end processes like onboarding, financing, transactions, and backend consumer servicing and engagement.
A digital Islamic banking super app that aims to improve the bank’s retail banking offerings is essential to its digital transformation. This significant change gives the bank the flexibility and control to carry out its long-term vision while enabling it to provide customised banking experiences catered to each individual customer’s preferences.
In addition to standard banking services, the aim is to provide integrated life empowerment elements that cover financial and faith-based components, as well as the guarantee of security and peace of mind in every transaction, in order to meet the needs of Malaysia’s broad consumer base. In the near future, Bank Muamalat also hopes to incorporate similar advances into its SME and commercial banking sectors.
The technical developments that are occurring are a result of Bank Muamalat’s dedication to innovation and constant improvement in all of its offerings, including services, products, and client experiences. The eight strategic thrusts that constitute the foundation of this change are: increasing customer centricity; facilitating Islamic banking for all; and accelerating business growth. These priorities highlight the bank’s goal of exceeding the ever-expanding requirements and expectations of its growing clientele.
Mambu for digital core capabilities and Backbase for modernization and customer-centric Engagement Banking are integrated into Bank Muamalat’s comprehensive cloud-based transformation. The bank’s financial services and product offers are improved by switching to a cloud-based model, which also saves a lot of money and increases operational effectiveness. Furthermore, by leveraging Mambu’s digital core to meet regulatory standards and fortify its security controls—both of which are critical for a financial institution—it helps Bank Muamalat’s developers to expedite software development cycles.
Mambu takes on a crucial role as one of Backbase’s most important core partners. The integration of Mambu’s core banking platform with Backbase’s engagement banking solutions creates a basis for banks of all sizes to break free from isolated, antiquated cores and go through a comprehensive digital revolution.
Backbase and Mambu’s collaboration offer an efficient and resilient shift to contemporary banking protocols by providing a comprehensive, end-to-end, cloud-native digital banking solution built on an open architecture. Banks are better equipped to address the changing demands of the modern, tech-savvy customer and the larger banking environment with this unified offering.
Speaking about the partnership, Khairul Kamarudin, president & chief executive officer of Bank Muamalat, said, “We are attentive to the current needs of our diverse consumer base and are dedicated to advancing financial inclusion and Islamic banking practices to be more modern, customer-centric, and digitally progressive. The strategic advantage of the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform lies in its ability to ‘adopt and build’, which aligns with our goal to launch the digital Islamic banking platform by the end of the year.”
Meanwhile, Riddhi Dutta, regional vice president of Asia at Backbase, stated, “Islamic banks, especially in Asia, are keen to enhance their digital banking solutions to stay competitive. At Backbase, we’ve had the privilege of collaborating with Islamic banks across the globe, gaining invaluable insights into their unique needs and challenges. Our Engagement Banking Platform is designed with flexibility at its core, offering pre-built journeys and microservices that can be customized to meet the unique requirements of Islamic banking.”
He added, “Our partnership with Bank Muamalat exemplifies our commitment to support Islamic banks in their digital transformation endeavors. Additionally, we hold a deep appreciation for Malaysia’s vibrant Islamic banking culture and dynamics, which stand as a beacon of innovation and growth in the global Islamic finance sector.”
Lastly, Perminder Grewal Dallow, director of solutions engineering at Mambu, remarked, “Mambu is a key player in the cloud-native core banking space, today powering financial institutions across 65 countries. As one of the first traditional banks in Southeast Asia to embrace our cloud banking platform, we look forward to enabling Bank Muamalat to build innovative products and services, streamline IT processes, and craft exceptional customer journeys.”
“The endorsement from Bank Negara Malaysia, the regulatory body for Malaysia’s financial sector, to advance this project underscores the trust and assurance in both Mambu and Backbase. We look forward to a strong partnership with Bank Muamalat as it modernises its technology foundation,” Dallow added.