Arab Financial Services Company B.S.C (c) (AFS), the region’s leading provider of electronic-payments and consumer finance-outsourcing services, has announced an agreement with Bank AlJazira, the premier bank in Saudi Arabia that provides high-net-worth individuals and large institutions with innovative banking solutions that are compliant with the Islamic Shari’ah in an exclusive ambiance, to monitor and potentially minimize fraud. Under the agreement, AFS will provide Bank AlJazira with its fraud monitoring services which will ultimately monitor the banks’ card portfolio in order to minimize fraud risks on a daily basis.
A dedicated fraud specialist team from AFS will review card usage activity through RiskNet, a sophisticated fraud monitoring system. RiskNet can identify suspect transactions as well as detect and manage fraud effectively.
Mr. Mishari Ibrahim Al Mishari, CEO of Bank AlJazira, said ‘It is of the utmost importance for us to continuously give our clients a secure network with which to operate with. We therefore, approached AFS for the services required; knowing well the extent of experience that comes with the company. Our joint customers will benefit from a cost-effective solution that consistently and accurately identifies potentially fraudulent activities and substantially reduces identity fraud exposure.”
On his part, Mr. Rasool Hujair AFS CEO commented, ‘We are proud to partner with such an esteemed establishment and look forward to exceeding expectations. Historically, we have enjoyed a strong relationship and it is quite a pleasure to watch this trust grow.”
He added ”AFS is proud of its growing ability to help our customers protect themselves from fraud, now with RiskNet data and analytic resources, our customers have the industry’s best anti-fraud solution at their fingertips.”
RiskNet is a leading brand system designed to meet the acquirer and issuer banks’ needs for fraud monitoring purpose, offline or online and delivers the industry’s most comprehensive and proven approach to preventing identity fraud, reducing losses and protecting consumers for any industry in which identity verification is critical. The Fraud Monitoring Services is arguably the most radical change to the card payment industry since the original introduction of payment cards. The implementation of the Fraud Monitoring team will not only put an end to card related fraud, it will also support a whole new generation of card-based applications that will reduce operating costs, create new business opportunities and revenue channels for banks.
About Arab Financial Services (AFS):
AFS is the leading Arab company for electronic banking, personal payment instruments and related services. Established in 1984, AFS is in a strong financial position with backing from leading international financial institutions in the Arab World. The company pioneered the concept of outsourcing card
Processing in the region and was the first company to set-up an end-to-end state-of-the-art card-outsourcing environment in Bahrain. AFS is the largest
payment card processor in the Middle East and North African regions. AFS is Principal Member of Visa and MasterCard Payment Associations and an authorized third party processor centre. Over 50 Banks in the region are connected to AFS's online card management integrated solutions. AFS offers diverse services ranging from 'get-started' to fully-fledged on-going card processing & related services, assisting banks to issue Visa and MasterCard to their customers through sponsorship card programs. AFS offers flexible and customized solutions to suit the specific requirements of financial institutions in the region, including full Arabic language functionality.
Bank Aljazira
“Innovative Islamic Banking”
Bank Aljazira was established in June of 1975 and began a restructuring process in 1992. In 1993 a new management team was appointed to continue the restructuring effort, which included the bank introduction of its state of the art technology, modern banking products and services and revamped its staffing portfolio to only include experienced professionals. As a result the bank became profitable in 1995 and it steadily increased the return on investment since then.
Over the past years the bank has achieved progressive growth, which was mainly due to its continuing efforts to improve. This is reflected in its growth of profits, which was up by 366% in 2005 as compared to 2004.
Currently the bank is planning on expansion by opening new branches remodeling and relocating existing ones. The bank is opening special ladies sections throughout the Kingdom.
Since the adoption of the Bank’s new strategy, the bank has achieved enormous success in the development and introduction into the market of financial products and services that are fully compliant with Islamic Shari’ah. Many of these have never been offered in the Saudi market before. They include the Tamam program, a Shari’ah-compliant alternative to conventional share trading margin accounts; the Naqa’a program, a Shari’ah-compliant alternative to conventional fixed time deposits; Takaful Ta’awuni, a Shari’ah-compliant alternative to conventional life insurance and the only program of its kind to be approved by SAMA; and SMS Alert, which provides clients of the Bank’s local share trading and international brokerage services with regular alerts via their mobile telephones. In May 2005, the bank successfully launched the new innovative service “Tadawulcom” for local share trading via the internet. The service is extremely successful and showed high demand among existing and new clients. Moreover, “TadwulCom” won the 2005 World Wide Web Gold award The Bank also provides a range of other innovative products and services that are fully compliant with Islamic Shari’ah. These include a portfolio of five mutual funds, the Aljazira VISA Gold card, the Dinar program for both personal and corporate financing, and the Aljazira Upscale program, including Platinum and Gold services for selected clients. In addition, Aljazira Online provides clients with a comprehensive Internet banking service. All of these products and services are offered through the Bank’s network of thirty one branches and Ladies’ Sections across the Kingdom.
By the end of August 2005 the Banks Saudization program achieved the targeted percentage of 85%.
