SBM staff, trained by TEMENOS, will be in a position to implement TEMENOS T24 core banking software and provide post-live services to customers in Saudi Arabia.

There is a strong growth in the financial services sector across the GCC and broader Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region with subsequent increases in IT investments and spending which totalled $1 billion in 2003 by the financial services industry, or approximately 12.5 per cent of total regional information technology spending. (Source: Middle East North Africa Financial Network, Inc. 2004).

Thomas Tattis, SBM country manager, professional services, comments: "We are proud to partner with TEMENOS. Combining our regional experience in system implementation, integration and support services for the TEMENOS T24 compelling universal banking solution to customers in Saudi Arabia, gives us a leading edge in the financial industry." SBM was established in 1981 and has over 500 employees. SBM has a very strong professional services operation and is the general marketing and services representative of IBM World Trade Corporation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

TEMENOS T24 is a functionally rich, thin client, scalable, integrated, modular banking system. It is built on an open architecture, and uses established standards such as HTTP, XML and J2EE. It offers a single client view across the enterprise and can support huge numbers of users with true non-stop resilience. It offers multiple application server support and is the only system available with no end of day batch processing and so can genuinely boast of providing real-time 24/7 non-stop banking.

Andreas Andreades, CEO of TEMENOS, adds: "TEMENOS T24 is the best-selling integrated banking system in Saudi Arabia and is currently used by seven banking organisations in the region. Our alliance with SBM, which has a strong professional services organisation in Saudi Arabia, is in line with our strategy to strengthen our position in the Middle East region. Our existing and prospective clients in Saudi Arabia can now benefit from a Saudi-based implementation and post-live service."