FCMB Bank (UK) Limited is a UK incorporated and regulated bank and is a member of FCMB Group Plc, a leading banking group headquartered in Nigeria.

FCMB group has more than 2 million customers and over 270 branches in Nigeria. FCMB is located in the City of London and commenced operations in 2014.

The bank chose International Financial Systems (iFinancial) to supply BankWare and AMLtrac as the platforms around which they would build their operations. The bank provides Trade Finance, Corporate and Investment Banking Services to its customers. It also offers Stockbroking Services for institutional clients, wishing to trade in Nigerian equities.

Being a new entrant to the UK banking sector speed to market and a prompt opening was of paramount importance to the bank and its head office. The bank looked at three alternative solutions with comparable functionality, including one being the incumbent supplier at head office before making their final decision. The primary evaluation criteria were that the chosen solution met the bank’s business needs, cost and time to install, simplicity and reliability.

The bank ultimately selected BankWare and AMLtrac with plans to implement iBank (internet banking) at a later date. iFinancial had worked with, two of the banks’ management team previously. Frank Le Roux (Chief Executive Office) at Nedbank. and Paul Brattle (Chief Operating Office) at TC Ziraat Bankasi and both were familiar with earlier versions of BankWare and iBank. Le Roux when reflecting on the bank’s decision said “In my opinion, for a bank to survive in today’s tough economic and highly regulated environment it needs to automate as many aspects of its business as it can.

This needs to be done cost-effectively and be based on modern technology so as to stand the test of time. I had worked with iFinancial for many years at NedBank and therefore knew that their solutions would meet our objectives and, if not, they would be receptive to change and improvement. I also implicitly trusted them to hit our demanding targets “Being a new bank we faced many challenges. Fortunately, implementation of our core systems was not one of them.” I am delighted to say the project has been a great success and I look forward to continuing to work closely with iFinancial over the coming years”

Implementation Paul Brattle managed the project from the bank’s point of view and oversaw its successful implementation into a solution that meets the needs of the bank and its customers. Brattle said “Implementation of the new systems was relatively straightforward as I had worked with iFinancial previously. I already had a good working knowledge of BankWare and AMLtrac and both are logical and easy to understand in the typical iFinancial way. I was also fortunate to have a good team working with me and excellent support from iFinancial. The new systems have bedded in nicely and we are keen to maximise on our investment and relationship with iFinancial by committing to enhance and improve their solutions to fit even more closely with the requirements of the bank Asked if the bank would make the same decision again “absolutely” says, Brattle. “The benefits of being a small bank working with a small but well-established vendor, and the close ties that we have built, far outweighs any perception of comfort you might think you get from purely looking at balance sheet size.”