AL RAJHI BANK
partners we ’ re working with . One of our partners is also Bank Negara Malaysia , which is an incredibly progressive regulator .
“ It was very clear to me that we needed to do a greenfield setup and that ’ s what we did . We ’ ve got a banking licence but it doesn ’ t stop us from having a completely digital bank , and we wanted it to be cloud native . Initially fully native from our app , we hope to deliver a basic set of products and services , which we hope to ramp up over time .
“ An interesting side of the digital bank is around potentially supporting other institutions with financial services because we have a best-in-class tech-stack which we can offer as banking-as-a-service . This model enables us to help other institutions that are yet to have the suitable products or necessary support . For instance , this model is particularly beneficial to institutions that are not so familiar with Islamic financing and lack the know-how to manage it . In Malaysia , which has a large Muslim population , they would want to offer a Shariah-compliant solution and that ’ s where our new technology can come into play and support them in achieving that .”
ARBM ’ s modern new workspace at Menara Hap Seng 3 When Oz first joined ARBM , the office workspace was traditional . “ Workspace is very important , especially when it comes to launching transformational change . You need an environment where people can change their mindset and learn how to do things differently ; a place where they can augment their knowledge and leverage it to create change ,” he says . “ Once there is a mindset change , you need people to collaborate . The best collaboration is done through rich communication . We wanted a space where , post-COVID , people would want to come to work and not remain remote , because
“ Malaysia is in many regards one of the foremost countries in Islamic banking around the world ”
ARSALAAN AHMED CEO , AL-RAJHI BANK MALAYSIA
158 June 2022