Sonali Bank UK to go live with Intellect Design Arena’s core system “in near future”
Four years on since the start of the project, Sonali Bank UK is yet to go fully live with a new core banking system, Intellect Core Banking. The operations are “partially automated”, says software supplier Intellect Design Arena, but assures that all parties are committed to the project and will compete it in “near future”.
Sonali Bank UK started its core banking modernisation project in summer 2012. On the way out was (is) Misys’ legacy core banking system, Bankmaster.
Its parent, Bangladesh-based Sonali Bank, signed a contract with Intellect to revamp its operations at home and in the UK in 2011, and a joint venture between the bank and vendor – SPFTL – was formed to carry out the implementation.
The Bangladeshi operations are successfully running Intellect Core Banking across 700+ branches, says Intellect’s spokesperson. However, “there have been inordinate delays in Sonali UK implementations on account of specific approach and a few circumstantial constraints”.
The spokesperson states that “teams from Sonali UK and SPFTL are engaged and committed to this programme and are ably guided by the joint leadership team for the successful implementation in near future”.
Sonali Bank UK was established in 2001 and is the only UK-based Bangladeshi bank that has been authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Sonali Bank UK is owned by the government of Bangladesh and Sonali Bank (which is also state-owned). It provides trade finance and corporate banking services, and also remittance services. It has three offices – in London, Birmingham and Bradford.
