Source: ACI Worldwide
ACI Worldwide (Nasdaq:TSAI), a leading international provider of enterprise payment solutions, today announced that Bank Al Bilad has licensed several products from the ACI Commerce Framework including BASE24, ACI Smart Chip Manager, ACI Card Management System and ACI Proactive Risk Manager.
The newly established Saudi Arabian commercial bank selected ACI software to provide an end-to-end payment processing infrastructure that will deliver a world-class enterprise-wide solution. Bank Al Bilad opened for business in May 2005, and ACI's solutions have supported the bank's aggressive launch plan for 32 branches across Saudi Arabia during the year.
The bank was created by a consortium of eight of the leading financial institutions in the region with a combined capital of three billion Saudi Riyals (approximately $0.8 billion U.S.). Based in Riyadh, it will focus on delivering Islamic banking services to its customers.
"We selected ACI due to its strong reputation and proven technology solutions, which will enable Bank Al Bilad to gain a firm foothold in the Saudi Arabian market," said Azzam Abaalkhail, CEO of Bank Al Bilad. "From a business perspective, we were looking to minimise the number of vendors at the bank to allow easy integration and achieve our aggressive timeline for launch. ACI's end-to-end solution will ensure that our bank is competitive from day one with a full range of high quality services for our customers."
"We are delighted that Bank Al Bilad has chosen to partner with ACI as we continue to expand our presence in the Middle East," said Richard Launder, president of ACI Worldwide EMEA. "Through our extensive expertise gained from 30 years in the industry, our comprehensive suite of products under the ACI framework will allow Al Bilad immediate migration to international network standards and a faster time to market."
ACI's BASE24 payments platform will provide Bank Al Bilad with transaction processing, authorisation and clearing for national and international bank cards including Visa and MasterCard. ACI Smart Chip Manager and Card Management System will support the new bank's card operations business and satisfy the forthcoming EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) mandates and SAMA (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency) compliance dates. ACI Proactive Risk Manager will be deployed to provide a comprehensive fraud detection and prevention solution.