Equity Bank has upgraded its core banking system from Finacle 8 to Finacle 10 in order to enable it to handle up to 150 million accounts and one million transactions per second
Kenya’s biggest bank by customer base has in the last few years opened branches in Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan.
"The system is multi-currency and multi-country. It is therefore open business within the region," said Equity Bank chief executive officer James Mwangi.
The bank's last upgrade was conducted in 2005 with a capacity to process 300,000 transactions per holding 35 million customers. The bank's chief operating officer Julius Kipngetich said the new system would provide a unified view of customers, allowing the bank to offer personalised products at competitive rates, helping the bank explore new lines of business.
Seamless integration across multiple channels and third-party systems will help facilitate productivity improvements across the Bank, Kipngetich said, with new accounts now able to be opened within less than five minutes.
"Africa is experiencing rapid economic growth. It is imperative that banks take advantage of modern technology to realise their true potential in this dynamically growing market," said Venkataramana Gosavi, vice-president and regional head – growth markets for Finacle and Infosys.
To further enhance its storage facilities, Equity has acquired and installed the latest enterprise IBM DS88OO storage system. The bank also installed IBM's latest Power 7 systems – p795 – to power the bank's core banking.
Mwangi Mumero
