Islamic Bank Upgrades Web Site with Backbase Platform

An Islamic bank headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has launched a new online banking platform with the help of Backbase, a specialist in helping financial services companies upgrade their portals.

Al Rajhi Bank, a Sharia-compliant lender with $49 billion in total assets, has gone live with its upgraded banking portal, Backbase announced on Tuesday.  The bank's new platform uses Backbase's Bank 2.0 Portal, implemented by Al Rajhi's IT staff and the Thales Group, which specializes in systems integration.

Backbase's Bank 2.0 portal is a widget-based platform. The portal uses a bank's data to personalize each customer's experience, and it is designed to be compatible with mobile devices.

"It's really an experience layer," said Backbase global head of marketing Jelmer Dejong. "The first thing we do is combine the bank's separate layers of data to make the site personally relevant to each user.  And we make sure the user experience is really beautiful."

Backbase, which is headquartered in Amsterdam, opened a New York office two years ago, and American clients now make up 40% of its business, Dejong estimated. The Backbase Bank 2.0 Portal was launched two years ago.

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