The BIBF collaborates with Cogneum for an Innovative Software Solution

The Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF) has announced a partnership with UK-based software publisher Cogneum and their Middle East and Africa partner Innosoft Solutions, to develop and launch the world’s first Shariah Governance software platform that links an Islamic bank’s activities to Maqasid al Shariah as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The software also helps reduce charitable write-offs by Islamic banks due to Shariah non-compliance issues.

During these challenging times Islamic banks and financial institutions will be increasing their financing, which will put more pressure on their governance processes. Governance will be made more complex due to the many staff now working from home. The Cogneum platform is designed to support a decentralised workforce and remote collaboration. It allows oversight of all activities so that organisations can increase financing while improving Shariah compliance.

This enterprise cloud-based workflow and automation platform will enable Islamic banks and financial institutions to:

• Streamline internal Shariah governance processes
• Facilitate the integration of Maqasid Al Shariah and the UN SDGs in the banks’ workflow
• Maintain an audit trail and track evidence for enhanced corporate governance and reporting

The platform leverages off AAOIFI Shariah Standards and ensures the step by step application of the process flows for products of retail Islamic banks.

The BIBF and Cogneum-Innosoft have been working together for some time on this initiative which can benefit Islamic banks and financial institutions in the second half of this year.

On this occasion, the Director of the BIBF, Dr. Ahmed al Shaikh said “We at the BIBF have been actively pursuing innovation and digital transformation in our new strategy implementation. The BIBF Islamic Finance Centre has been very dynamic in offering innovative solutions in-line with the new strategy and I am very pleased to see this partnership to develop the Shariah and SDG compliance platform to facilitate the global Islamic finance industry.

Mr. Mujtaba Khalid, Head of the BIBF Islamic Finance Center added “We have seen that every year, global Islamic banks lose billions of dollars to charitable write-offs due to Shariah non-compliance. This first of its kind software solution aims at reducing these write-offs as well as facilitating the bank to become SDG compliant, in-line with Maqasid al Shariah.

Mr. Sethu Venkateswaran, Chairman & Co-Founder of Innosoft Solutions Bahrain said “We are delighted to be announcing our partnership with the BIBF and the launch of our Shariah Governance software platform. This platform streamlines the compliance activities of Islamic banks and financial institutions and we are confident it will promote better corporate governance. We are grateful to the BIBF for their efforts and expertise in bringing this solution to the market”.