Members News

ESKADENIA Software, the premier provider of Insurance Management Software, proudly announces the successful digital enablement of the largest takaful merger in the Middle East between National Takaful Company (Watania) and Dar Al Takaful (DAT).

The National Takaful Company (Watania) and Dar Al Takaful were successfully merged as part of this successful endeavor, creating one of the largest Takaful companies, in the UAE. The technical systems merger started in May of 2022 and was completed within two months. The newly merged entity started using the software systems of ESKADENIA Software in its live operations on the 1st of July 2022. Despite the many challenges and tight schedule, this project was successfully completed thanks to the tireless efforts of the teams at Noor Takaful, Watania and ESKADENIA Software.

ESKADENIA Software’s systems were instrumental in facilitating the merger and digitally transforming the merged companies, timely and effectively uniting their operations and data. ESKADENIA Software’s systems that are now running in the new business entities Noor Takaful Family and Noor Takaful General, are ESKA^® General and ESKA^® Medical Insurance Management Systems. ESKADENIA Software also provides the Noor Takaful companies with a group of leading-edge software systems to ensure top-class business management cycles. These systems include ESKA^® Financial, ESKA^® Approval, ESKA^® Notification, ESKA^® Wakalah, ESKA^® Inventory, and ESKA^® Procurement. In addition to empowering internal users with tools to digitize daily operations, the integration with Sales Portals was also accomplished from day one to offer Agents, Brokers, and individual customers the ability to issue quotations, pay online, and issue the policy on the spot.

ESKADENIA Software enables insurance enterprises adapt to the faster-than-ever changes in the IT and Insurance industries by implementing innovative software platforms. ESKADENIA Software’s highly successful insurance systems enable insurance firms to meet insurers’ dynamic and diversified business demands by digitalizing their organizational and business processes, a must in the Insurtech era.

Noor Takaful provides a series of innovative products and services for its customers, including General Takaful, Motor Takaful, Medical Takaful, Travel Takaful, Commercial Takaful, and Personal Takaful, as well as customized Islamic Insurance products and services to individuals, families, groups, and companies in the UAE market.

Gautam Datta, Chief Executive Officer of DAT, said: “We have the vision and deep expertise to immediately start executing our ambitious plans to build a national and regional Takaful leader that is strongly committed to product innovation, service excellence, productivity, and shareholder value creation.”

“Our merger delivered a step-change in DAT’s scale and enhanced our financial strength and resilience. Driven by the rich combined talent pool, expanded infrastructure and partner network, and importantly our powerful data-led approach, DAT is very well positioned to reach and meet the needs of a wider client base in the UAE addressable market and beyond.

The Takaful/insurance industry is on a growth trajectory as the region emerges into a new era following the worst impacts of the pandemic. We are building a strong, scalable, and adaptable business model that is based on best practices and underpinned by clear values that will be able to meet the changing demands of customers and the overall market,” he added.

Martin Sebastian, Chief Information Officer of DAT said: “Time was the critical element in the whole integration process as we had just two months to set up both General & Family companies.  Watania being an existing client of ESKADENIA and with a stable environment for over 11 years has helped us to take decision on target core insurance system without any doubts. Multi-company feature of ESKADENIA system helped us in establishing things fast. Watania’s digital platforms were integrated with ESKADENIA APIs earlier and we managed to bring in all those as well during this integration process, which connects over 150+ brokers and 700+ users. Quite a good feat of achievement for the entire team in DAT & ESKADENIA.”

ICS Financial Systems (ICSFS),the global software and services provider for banks and financial institutions, today announced the success of its Iraq User Group Summit: “Accelerating Digitalisation and Innovation in Iraq”. ICSFS showcased its holistic awards-winning banking software application; ICS BANKS with its latest new modules, features and innovations. The summit was held on Tuesday 21st June 2022, at the prestigious Babylon Rotana Hotel in Baghdad

ICSFS in partnership with AL-AWAEL, Fortinet, and Huawei, brought together a comprehensive one full day. Emphasising on the importance of digital transformation processes and roadmap, and its utilisation in banking and financial institutions, which provides a great service to users in managing their accounts remotely, financial inclusion, better customer service and more customer reach.

During the summit, ICSFS presented the latest innovations and products that are embedded within its latest Digital Banking Platform that includes customer on-boarding, E-KYC, Open Banking Platform and API’s, Business Process Management & DMS, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Blockchain Adaptor, Cash Management Solution, Mobile and Internet Banking. In addition to that, ICSFS presented the audience with a full comprehensive IFRS9 solution, Credit Risk, Customer Classification and BASEL requirement that is in compliance with the international regulations and covers the Central Bank of Iraq’s requirements.

ICSFS has a very strong presence in Iraq, and has been servicing the Iraqi market for over twenty years. ICSFS is the preferred and most trusted technology partner in Iraq, with over 30 active customers who have chosen ICSFS for its continuous technology innovation, high security and reliability and holistic products and services offerings.

In a ceremony hosted by the Arab Monetary Fund at its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Ms. Maha Bahou, CEO of The Jordan Payments and Clearing Company (JoPACC), and Mr. Mehdi Manaa, CEO of Buna, the cross-border and multi-currency payment system owned by the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enable interoperability between Buna’s IPS and CliQ.

Under the umbrella of this MoU, Buna and JoPACC aim to achieve interoperability between their instant payment services, Buna “IPS” and “CliQ”, by providing innovative solutions that allow their participants to send and receive cross-border payments instantly in accordance with the highest global standards. The integration between Buna and CliQ is envisioned to advance digital and instant payments in the Arab region and create another payment rail targeting to support various use cases, including digital remittances and e-commerce.

Commenting on this MoU, HE Dr. Abdulrahman A. Al Hamidy, Director General Chairman of the Board of the Arab Monetary Fund, said: “This strategic collaboration with The Jordan Payments and Clearing Company (JoPACC), is a step forward in Buna’s efforts to provide national payment solutions with expansion opportunities by enabling cross-border payment services to their participants. Buna’s partnership with JoPACC will bring additional services and features to the payments industry in Jordan, securing safe and efficient access to cross-border instant payments for individuals and corporates within the Arab region and beyond.”

Ms. Maha Bahou, the CEO of JoPACC, emphasized Jordan’s efforts in developing instant digital payment solutions and expanding the scope of offered financial services to include cross-border payments that are characterized by high levels of safety and efficiency and are based on cutting-edge technologies. This shall increase the uptake of financial services and thus contribute to the increase of financial inclusion in Jordan. Ms. Maha further applauded the efforts of AMF in collaborating with digital payment stakeholders in the Arab world to make the journey of the Arab financial consumer more seamless.

JoPACC launched its instant payment system CliQ in 2020, and 20 banks are currently participants in it, with 18 banks offering CliQ services to their clients. CliQ enables instant payments between bank accounts and to and from mobile wallets in Jordan. CliQ further offers a bundle of services and features that facilitate digital money flow while preserving the highest levels of efficiency and security.

Integrated Technology Group is pleased to sign a partnership agreement with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship to benefit from their Youth, Technology, and Jobs Project.

This partnership will help hire and develop new job opportunities that benefit talents in the technology sector in Jordan.

By Hazem Mulhim

Among the orange groves deep in the fertile Jordan Valley region of Ghor, Tabqet Fahel Shaikh Hussein , Ms. Amena explains how she and her family have benefited from a charitable project that funded a practical course on the breeding of honey bees. As she does so, she leans over one of the 30 hives that dot the local landscape, takes out a tray dripping with honey and covered with buzzing bees, and inspects the progress. With the honey from the hives, she has been able to generate a sustainable income in these most challenging times.

But more than this, she has been able to help her local community. Beehive management is a critical part of the region’s agricultural ecosystem: the bees not only produce honey but also facilitate the pollination of crops in the valley. Normally, the hives are moved from the valley floor to higher ground, where the bees can avoid the heat of summer and pollinate new crops. But this all but stopped at the start of the lockdown associated with the global coronavirus pandemic, devastating the local population of bees and threatening to damage the local economy. By intervening at this critical time, by moving the hives to higher ground and teaching farmers like Ms. Amena  the rudiments of beekeeping, the charitable project played a vital role.

The project is just one of many supported by the Rewell Society, a charitable foundation started thirty years ago by my father, Mohammed Ayyash Mulhim, who was a lawyer and businessman who spent his life standing up for the vulnerable and downtrodden in society. Back in 1992, the charity was called the Rehabilitation and Welfare Society. I changed the name when I became chairman after my father’s death in 2015 in order to reflect the charity’s strategy of helping poor, disadvantaged Jordanians find wellness and empowerment through work. But the animating principle remains the same: it is better to give people the tools for succeeding in the long term than to dole out cash to them for spending in the short term because once they have the skills, they never lose them—whereas if they only have some cash handouts, they soon come back for more.

As I explain in a chapter entitled “Why I Do What I Do” in my new book, Two Brown Envelopes, the work of the Rewell Society is very personal to me—and not only because my father launched the charity. Eastnets, the technology company I founded forty years ago, is the Society’s main corporate partner. Every year, Eastnets donates funds, and many employees pledge a portion of their annual salary. We make these contributions because, to a significant degree, the work of the charity is an extension of what we do in our day-to-day work. In a sense, the business and the charity are two side of the same coin. At Eastnets, our core purpose—as a global provider of compliance, payment and cloud solutions to ten per cent of the world’s banks—is to give people the tools to connect with each other and to participate in the global economy. In a different way, that’s precisely what the Rewell Society does, too.

Over the years, Rewell has provided more than forty thousand poor and underprivileged Jordanians with the vocational skills—the tools—they need to succeed in this fast-changing, increasingly digital world. More recently, there has been a particular focus on helping women in the Jordan valley participate in the local economy—in particular, supporting entrepreneurial projects related to farming activities such as cattle-rearing and, as I’ve mentioned, beehive management. Now, we are starting to expand the work of the charity, and to do this, we have built a crowdfunding website that allows people to co-fund projects with. Currently, there are 20 projects at various stages of fundraising—including a recycling project (turning discarded plastic containers, paper and metals into profitable new products), a fish farming project, and a hydroponics farming project (where plants are raised in water rather than soil). In due course, we plan to turn the website into an ecommerce hub where participating farmers can sell their produce to buyers across Jordan.

At Rewell, we don’t just donate money. Instead, we take a venture capital approach to every project. Each supported family is given a sum of money, say 1,000 Jordanian dinars (about $1,400), that must be used for very specific purposes: the purchase of some agricultural machinery or some seeds. In a very real sense, this is seed corn funding. Then, the families have to pass certain milestones, and only after this will they receive a further injection of funds. And finally, when they come to sell their products—say, some honey—they must give 20 per cent of the proceeds to the charity, which then reinvests the money in other projects.

By introducing this partial payback mechanism, we hope to raise the funds to help many more people like Ms.Amena  in the years ahead. Indeed, we hope to free thousands of people from the curse of poverty and create a generation of self-reliant, entrepreneurially-minded farmers across the Jordan Valley.

If we can do this at Rewell, we will fulfil a purpose shared with Eastnets: to give people the tools (the equipment, the skills and the confidence) they need to participate in the global economy.

Eastnets’ Founder and CEO Hazem Mulhim’s new book, Two Brown Envelopes: How to Shrug Off Setbacks, Bounce Back from Failure, and Build a Global Business (Houndstooth Press, 2022) is now available on Amazon and Rakuten Kobo.

OFFTEC Holding Group launches its new website in cllaboration with Echo Technology under the domain www.offtecholding.com  following the latest website design and development technologies to provide information in a clear, easy to navigate, and modern way to the audience.

OFFTEC Holding Group is a Jordanian holding company, Established in Jerusalem in 1910 that combines unparalleled experience and comprehensive capabilities across many fields, including business technology solutions, consumer finance, and architectural lighting.

As a widely diversified group, OHG’s committed professionals specialize in various domains. With a long-established reputation and throughout our years of success, OFFTEC Holding Group has established strong partnerships with best-in-class suppliers from across the world in our different fields of expertise.

During the General Assembly meeting of the Jordan Payments and Clearing Company (JoPACC), held on May 9, 2022, and presided by the Governor of the Central Bank of Jordan, His Excellency Dr. Adel Sharkas, the Board of Directors’ elections took place following the end of the current board term, which lasted from 2019 to 2022. Consequently, the newly elected board will serve for three years. (2025-2022)

The General Assembly (GA) meeting was attended by all JoPACC shareholders who also participated in the elections. GA members include the Central Bank, represented by its Governor and one of his deputies, in addition to all the 23 operating banks in the Kingdom represented by their CEOs. The Board of Directors consists of 11 members, two of whom represent the Central Bank of Jordan and 9 bank representatives.

The new Board of Directors includes the following members:

• H.E Dr. Adel Al Sharkas, Governor of the Central Bank and Chairman of the Board
• His Excellency Dr. Khaldoun AlWishah – Central Bank of Jordan
• Ms. Randa Sadek – Arab Bank
• Mr. Ammar Al-Safadi – The Housing Bank for Trade and Finance
• Mr. Dawod Al-Ghoul – Capital Bank
• Mr. Haethum Al Buttikhi – Jordan Kuwait Bank
• Mr. Kamal Al Bakri – Cairo Amman Bank
• Dr. Hussein Saeed – Jordan Islamic Bank
• Mr. Muhammad Musa  Daoud – Jordan Ahli Bank
• Mr. Muntaser Dawwas – Invest Bank
• Mr. Caesar Qulajen – Jordan Commercial Bank

The elected board will play a vital role in developing the company’s new strategy and supervising its implementation, in addition to providing strategic direction for the company’s operations to ensure the fulfillment of its high-level goals that are primarily centered around strengthening the digital payment infrastructure and expanding digital financial inclusion in Jordan.

During the meeting, Ms. Maha Bahou, CEO of JoPACC, presented the implementation progress of the company’s strategy in its third year, highlighting the launch of the CliQ system, which enables instant transfers between bank accounts in Jordan, and the upgrade of the JoMoPay system for mobile wallets to the latest ISO20022 standard, which enabled full interoperability between financial accounts linked to both systems efficiently, instantly, and seamlessly. Dr. Adel Sharkas, Chairman of the Board of Directors, expressed his appreciation and gratitude to the previous board, which led the company with the utmost dedication during the past three years.

JoPACC was established in 2017 and is owned by the Central Bank of Jordan and all operating banks in the Kingdom. The company works to achieve its primary goal, which is providing comprehensive and innovative financial services and digital payments that benefit everyone and contribute to the digital financial inclusion in the Kingdom towards achieving a digital economy.