Members News

Hadhramout Commercial Bank (HCB) has successfully gone live on ICS BANKS® Awards-winning, Innovative Core banking, Digital Banking, and Islamic Banking solutions from ICS Financial Systems, (ICSFS), the global software and services provider for banks and financial institutions.

 Hadhramout Commercial Bank is a newly established Yemeni bank with a mission to become a leader in providing modern banking and financial services specifically catered for individuals and businesses from all sectors and aiming to support the recovery and flourishment of the Economic climate in Yemen.

CSC Jordan chooses HPE Superdome Flex Servers for maximum scalability and security
Leading Jordanian finance technology solutions provider leverages HPE Superdome Flex’s security and scalability capabilities to ensure the availability and integrity of its services and provide quality customers experience.

PROTECH today announced that CSC Jordan, a leading financial services company in Jordan selected HPE Superdome Flex with HPE Primera to ensure security, compliance, and operational continuity of its services. The HPE solution will power CSC Jordan’s core system, providing a single point of management and monitoring, self-optimizing system operations as well as 100% data availability guarantee.
Headquartered in Amman, CSC Jordan offers highly performant and reliable electronic payment services for financial institutions and retailers, as well as ATM management solutions. The services include processing and authorizing financial transactions, as well as connecting ATMs and point of sale (POS) networks, along with managing and organizing clearing and settlement procedures for financial operations.

CSC Jordan’s main objective when selecting a new solution for their mission-critical server was to guarantee 24/7 availability for their customers. Another key criterion for the new server solution was that it would be compliant with regulations and the requirements of international payment processing companies such as Visa, Mastercard and AMEX as well as local card companies like Network International (NI).

“The services CSC Jordan delivers are vital to our customers’ financial operations; therefore, it is crucial for us to be able to ensure the security and integrity of our services,” said Naseem Almasri, Infrastructure and Security Manager at CSC Jordan. “The HPE Superdome Flex solution provided by PROTECH delivers key data and security features, that are essential for protecting our applications and databases, while offering high scalability. As a business that is constantly changing and growing, this gives us the peace of mind and the room to focus on our customers’ needs by creating new and more advanced services.”

“As one of the leading finance technology services providers in Jordan, CSC Jordan has to comply with the regulations set by the Central Bank of Jordan, which requires the use of the most secure hardware and software,” said Essa Al Athamneh Pre-sales Infrastructure solutions Manager, PROTECH. “Finding the right solution when faced with such critical and often extensive regulations can be a challenge for companies and when CSC Jordan was looking into a new server system, we were confident that we could provide the right level of security, compliance and scalability they needed.”

“Having worked with financial service providers and institutes across the world, our experts have a deep understanding for the complex regulations and technical challenges that organisations in the industry face”, said Mohammed Khater, Manager for Gulf & levant, HPE. “From the beginning, we worked closely with CSC Jordan and PROTECH to identify the optimal solution that would provide them with flexibility, performance, and reliability. With HPE Superdome Flex CSC Jordan has a highly robust server architecture that allows them to start small and grow at their own pace.”
PROTECH is the first partner in Jordan to implement HPE Superdome Flex. With the deployment for CSC, one of its most strategic customers,
the HPE Gold partner is leading the way in the deployment of this powerful technology in the country. Providing critical insights and supporting CSC Jordan throughout the solution assessment and implementation process, PROTECH enabled a smooth deployment and ensured great user experience.
With its powerful performance, security, and compliance features, the HPE Superdome Flex solution is a reliable and secure choice that will help CSC Jordan to continue to provide the highest quality services to its customers. Together with HPE PROTECH is looking forward to continuing to support CSC Jordan on their journey.

About CSC-Jordan

CSC Jordan, is a new leading acquirer in Jordan that looks at providing the best and latest technological solutions across all forms of electronic payments, as well as our ATM management services. CSC services provide banks, financial institutions, retailers, companies a road to success by offering them innovative solutions defined by their flexibility and security. CSC services include processing and authorizing financial transactions, as well as connecting ATMs and point of sale (POS) networks, along with managing and organizing clearing and settlement procedures for financial operations. In addition, CSC is a payment services provider that exclusively issues all types of payment cards depending on their client’s needs. CSC also owns and provides the Islamic Visa credit card – Arabex.

About PROTECH

PROTECH is Gold HPE Partner Ready Solution Provider which specialises in providing IT solution. Founded in 2004 to deliver the most innovated solutions that manage and protect clients’ business data, systems, and environment.

About Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) is the global edge-to-cloud company that helps organizations accelerate outcomes by unlocking value from all their data, everywhere. Built on decades of reimagining the future and innovating to advance the way people live and work, HPE delivers unique, open and intelligent technology solutions as a service. With offerings spanning Cloud Services, Compute, High Performance Computing & AI, Intelligent Edge, Software, and Storage, HPE provides a consistent experience across all clouds and edges, helping customers develop new business models, engage in new ways, and increase operational performance. For more information, visit: www.hpe.com

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The CEO of Estarta, Mutaz H. Nabulsi, attended this year’s SXSW event in Austin, Texas. SXSW is one of the most prestigious annual IT events that is held in the world and was held from March 12^th through the 15^th.

This is an especially important milestone for Estarta as a company since it was one of the first companies to represent the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, as well as the Arab world!

Besides being the first official SXSW participation by an Arab nation, this circumstance was also very important for Estarta specifically since it was a fantastic platform for the organization to show off its most recent goods and services, connect with business titans, exchange insightful information, and, most importantly, highlight Jordan’s ICT prowess on a worldwide scale.

Estarta also believes it is highly crucial to showcase itself as a multinational company that is predicated on brilliant young Jordanian minds.

There has been a lot of buzz pertaining to this year’s event, especially on various social media channels. Hence, the trip has proven itself to be a massive success. Stay tuned to find out how Estarta is making history!

Thank you for reading.

We are pleased to announce that Veeam software recognizes PROTECH as a Levant Top Partner of the Year 2022 during Veeam ProPartner summit 2023.

PROTECH demonstrated outstanding performance and expertise in delivering modern data protection solutions across the region.

In light of International Women’s Day, a session was held by Amira ElAli, Head of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee at Estarta, at the Royal Automobile Club Amman. The session addressed self-awareness and self-empowerment, as well as touching on many pertinent issues.

The session throughout emphasized the value of self-awareness as a key component of personal development. It touched on how important self-awareness is in both the professional and personal lives of working women as well as men and how it can influence our results, strengthen our capacity for decision-making, and increase our self-assurance. All of this naturally has a positive impact on the world.

In addition to what was mentioned, the session also addressed how self-awareness leads to self-assessment, a crucial asset in the workplace. Overall, Estarta always strives to spread awareness when it comes to such issues.

JOIN Fincubator, JoPACC’s newly established fintech incubator, has successfully hosted its first fintech hackathon: MSME Masterminds. The hackathon was organized in collaboration with the Open Bank Project and was sponsored by the GIZ Implemented Project: Innovative Approaches for the Financial Inclusion of MSMEs In Jordan (I-FIN). The hackathon lasted for 72 hours and took place in Amman, Jordan, bringing together 69 participants from different governorates who formed 23 diverse teams that included students, business developers, coders, designers, and entrepreneurs.

Over the course of three days, the teams enthusiastically attended several sessions offered by experienced mentors who provided guidance and support throughout the hackathon. These sessions included an API workshop, a UX clinic, and pitch training to ensure that teams were well-equipped to address at least one of the five main challenges highlighted by the hackathon which attempted to drive access to financial services for micro, small, and medium-sized (MSMEs). The five challenges were:

1. Innovative risk management and mitigation approaches for MSMEs financing and access to financial services,
   2. Innovative products and services to support MSMEs financing and access to financial services,
   3. Innovative process management and optimization to reduce costs and enhance efficiency,
   4. Innovative credit data and scoring models for MSMEs,
   5. Innovative products and services to support the needs of women-led/owned MSMEs,
   6. Other related themes for access to innovative financial services for MSMEs (such as green finance).

The teams pitched their ideas and minimum viable products (MVPs) to an impressive line-up of judges who included: Ms. Muna Sukhtian, Dr. Ashraf Bany Mohammad, Mr. Mohammad Badwan, Mr. Simon Redfern, Mr. Abe Seksek, and Mr. Tarek Aqel, who judged the teams according to various criteria; mainly the viability and relevance of the idea, its ability to make an actual impact by solving real problems, and the way it was pitched. The three winners of the hackathon, Project Moon in first place, Blockexe in second, and Step Jo in third, were awarded cash prizes of JOD 10,000, 5,000, 2,500 respectively, but most importantly won the opportunity to be incubated within JOIN Fincubator to further develop their solutions.

On her part, Ms. Maha Bahou, CEO of JoPACC, stated: “JOIN’s mission is to increase products, services, and investments in the Jordanian fintech ecosystem by supporting fintech innovators to ideate, create, validate, and graduate their solutions. I was blown away by the creativity and innovation displayed by the teams, and it was so inspiring to see so many talented individuals come together from across the Kingdom to address some of the biggest challenges facing MSMEs’ access to finance. And while this hackathon tackled the ideation phase, I cannot wait to see what progress our winners will make after graduating from our incubation program.”

As the exclusive sponsor of the hackathon, Mr. Ulrich Hess, I-FIN Team Leader, additionally added: “JoPACC’s first hackathon was a great success in promoting innovative and practical financial solutions for real-life challenges faced by MSMEs in Jordan. Congratulations to all participants and winners! We’re thrilled to continue the journey with JoPACC towards advancing MSMEs’ financial inclusion.” Commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the I-FIN project promotes innovations on the regulatory, supply, and demand sides of the finance market for MSMEs, and also focuses on the challenges and needs of women-led MSMEs and promotes products and services that serve their specific needs.

Mr. Simon Redfern, CEO of the Open Bank Project, and one of the judges on the judging panel said: “events like these really help spur the fintech ecosystem and they’re great for drawing out game-changing solutions in little time. Organizations such as JoPACC that drive these kinds of interactions with innovators are contributing towards a more digital and inclusive Jordanian financial system. We saw a peak of 7000 API calls an hour with the teams making wide-ranging use of the Open Bank Project API platform.” The Open Bank Project is the global standard and leading open-source API Platform for Open Banking. It empowers financial institutions to enhance their digital offerings using an ecosystem of 3rd party applications and services rapidly and securely.

Launched in November 2022, JOIN Fincubator plans to host more fintech hackathons in the future as part of its commitment to promoting innovation and collaboration in the Jordanian fintech scene.