Capital Bank of Jordan, one of Jordan’s leading banks with a strong regional presence has launched its new mobile banking app for customers, powered by Codebase Technologies’ Digibanc platform.
The launch of the revamped mobile banking experience is a milestone in the longstanding strategic technology partnership between Capital Bank of Jordan and Codebase Technologies.
Over the past year both teams have collaborated on the launch of Jordan’s first neobank ‘Blink’ that provides banking services through its smart digital platform, in addition to digital onboarding for Capital Investments – the investment arm of Capital Bank Group.
“Codebase Technologies has been a longstanding and valued technology partner for us. The team’s in-depth knowledge of software, IT and the nuances of the banking industry have been of immense value on our journey of digitisation,” said Izzidin Abusalameh, Group Chief Operating Officer, Capital Bank of Jordan.
Leveraging Codebase Technologies’ award-winning Digibanc platform, the two teams have created the first of its kind in MENA, widget-based banking app experience, inspired by cutting-edge operating systems. Using a component-based development approach by customizing multiple market-ready solutions within the Digibanc platform accelerated the mobile app’s time to market, significantly.
Furthermore, the Digibanc platform’s open and agile nature allowed features to be developed and integrated with the bank’s existing core banking system and IT infrastructure for a seamless deployment.
Hani Khalil, Group Chief Digital and Innovation Officer at Capital Bank of Jordan, stated: “Codebase Technologies technical know-how and their ability to work under extreme time constraints is really impressive. Their Digibanc platform puts us in a strong position from a business and technology point of view and gives us the flexibility to innovate at scale, now and in the future.”
With a population of over 10 million and just over 8 million active mobile connections, Jordan is a market ripe and hungry for digital services. Furthermore, with only 27% of women and 53% of men having access to a bank account, there is a strong need for digital financial services in the country. By enhancing customer engagement and acquisition through the new digital offering, Capital Bank of Jordan aims to increase its market share and drive growth across the organisation.
Mohammed Othman, Group Chief Consumer Banking Officer at Capital Bank of Jordan, added: “We’re extremely proud of the new mobile app and the experience our customers will enjoy. The high level of personalization and ease of use is helping us grow our customer base, improve customer retention and acquire new customers, ultimately driving revenues across our business.”
Tamer Al Mauge, Managing Director – MENA of Codebase Technologies, said: “The recent mobile app launch is another milestone in our strategic technology partnership with Capital Bank of Jordan. We are honoured that Capital Bank of Jordan has placed their trust in us as a longstanding technology partner and chosen our Digibanc platform as their solution for multiple projects in their digitization journey.”
We asked Hani Khalil, Group Chief Digital and Innovation Officer at Capital Bank of Jordan, further questions to find out more about the project:
Can you outline some of the achievements of the longstanding strategic technology partnership between Capital Bank of Jordan and Codebase Technologies?
Codebase Technologies has been our strategic technology partner for quite some time and the team have helped us deliver a number of digital initiatives. The team worked very closely with us in launching our Neobank – Blink, earlier this year. More recently the team delivered our revamped Mobile Banking experience and they have also been engaged on a digital onboarding launch for one of our subsidiaries – Capital Investments.
Why did you choose Codebase Technologies’ Digibanc platform to power your new mobile banking app?
We wanted to replace our existing mobile banking app with something brand new to align with what customers, today, expect from a world class banking experience. The Digibanc platform was a great foundation on which to build our new proposition. Not only was the platform flexible and agile to ensure we could create a mobile banking experience as per our specific requirements, it was also simple to plug into our existing ecosystem and infrastructure. We are currently going through Digital Transformation at multiple levels of the organisation, so we needed a platform which was flexible enough to integrate with older and newer systems without causing a disruption as we upgrade different areas of our business. Digibanc was able to do this effectively. The platform also ensured we could hyper-personalise customer experience and gives us a wealth of data we can use to inform our decision making and product roadmap and ultimately give us the flexibility to continuously innovate and scale with our customers and business.
Can you give examples of the value of Codebase Technologies’ knowledge of software, IT and the banking industry?
What’s really great about the Codebase Technologies team is that they have a good mix of knowledge and skillsets. Beyond just software expertise, many of the team members have backgrounds in technology consulting, banking and design. That mix of skills is really important in supporting us from a holistic point of view. The team is able to advise us on technology, yes, but they also understand the nuances of banking, and the unique challenges we face from a business point of view, when digitising. Their experience in that area made them really great to work with and we highly valued their input and support.
Why did you decide to create a widget-based banking app experience?
Customers have high expectations from banks these days. Banking apps are no longer compared to other banking apps but to every other app that’s out there. If you want to impress and retain customers, and of course attract new ones, you have to really stand out. Developing our widget-based experience was a result of speaking with customers, working with partners and a great deal of research. Using this approach, we were able to create a great deal of personalisation for customers and various segments as well as ensure the app was intuitive and simple to navigate. We wanted to make our mobile banking experience something customers look forward to rather than something that gets in the way of them managing their finances. Taking inspiration from the operating system was a logical step in helping us develop such a ground-breaking interface and experience.
Can you provide further details about how the app’s time to market was accelerated?
Seamless integration was one element of what made the launch quick. We weren’t held back by having to wait for elements of our infrastructure to be upgraded, the solution was effectively plug and play. Additionally, the Digibanc platform features several components we could customise which cut down the time and cost of developing everything from scratch. Elements such as onboarding, card issuance, etc. simply needed to be customised and plugged into our systems. Taking a component-based approach is inherently quicker and much more cost effective when launching such a solution. It also gives us increased agility as various aspects of the mobile banking app can be added, removed and tweaked without requiring a total rebuild and this vastly limits any down time we face when creating new products, services or features for our customers.
Can you explain how the Digibanc platform allowed features to be seamlessly developed and integrated with the bank’s existing core banking system and IT infrastructure?
Digibanc has really strong integration features. The team have developed a system which works very well with partner ecosystems through the use of APIs. Not only does that allow the platform to share data across legacy systems but it gives us the advantage of integrating with fintechs, third parties and other organisations such as credit bureaus, ID databases, etc. APIs have emerged as a huge enabler of digital finance and have contributed immeasurably to a more open financial future. With the Digibanc platform in place we have the power to collaborate in new and unique ways with partners, co-create new experiences for our customers and of course integrate with new and old systems when doing so.
How does the app provide a better standard of customer service?
Customers now have a much deeper level of personalisation in their mobile banking experience. Users have tailored experiences based on their segment, we have a range of customer journeys that make using the app much more intuitive and engaging. Simple things like the way information is presented to the customer and how easy it is to conduct transactions have been totally re-designed with the customer experience at the heart.
Are you impressed with the scalability offered by the Digibanc platform?
Digibanc is a flexible platform and one of the reasons we chose it as the foundation for our new mobile banking app. The way the platform is designed gives us the freedom to grow and scale all the while ensuring we can stay agile, dynamic and of course ensure everything is secure and safe for the customer.
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