Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia selects UK cloud fintech to build its Islamic digital bank

• Vision of becoming #1 Islamic finance innovation bank in Malaysia
• Will launch digital bank in 2022 with range of retail & SME services

Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia (ARBM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the world's largest Islamic bank by assets, Al Rajhi Bank of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has selected UK based Thought Machine, a cloud native core banking technology firm, to power their upcoming next-generation digital bank and strengthen their position in Islamic banking.

“We are launching a state-of-the-art digital bank which will be differentiated by its high levels of innovation, customer convenience and reliability. We are tapping into the vast potential in technology offered by our key partners to help advance towards our vision of becoming the #1 Islamic finance innovation bank in Malaysia,” said Arsalaan Ahmed (pic, left), CEO of Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia.

“As a leader in Islamic banking, Al Rajhi Malaysia Bank has a considerable opportunity to launch an exceptional next generation banking service – and we have no doubt they will succeed. We look forward to working together to deliver on their exciting vision,” said Paul Taylor (pic, right), CEO and founder of Thought Machine.

ARBM embarked on a multi-year digital transformation in 2021 and will deploy Thought Machine’s core banking engine, Vault, to launch a new digital bank in 2022 with a range of sophisticated retail and SME financial services, such as savings and financing products.

The unique design of the Vault platform will enable ARBM to deliver on their ambitions and launch an end-to-end next-generation bank. The bank will harness Vault’s universal product engine to design, launch and manage a full suite of products on a single, clear architecture.

Furthermore, ARBM is building a full suite of Shariah-compliant products and Vault’s product-building capabilities will be instrumental and critical in allowing the bank to build and offer services tailored to their customers’ individual needs.

With its APAC HQ in Singapore, Thought Machine has more than 50 employees in the region. Since its 2014 founding, the fintech player has raised more than US$340 million in funding at a US$1 billion+ valuation.