Designing an integrated core banking system for a medium-scale Sharia bank in Indonesia

The implementation of an Islamic or Sharia core banking system (SCBS) must transform information technology into an enabler of business by providing an agile platform to achieve corporate objectives. It often forms an integral part of a business transformation program addressing key banking issues. The objective of this paper is to propose the development and implementation of an integrated sharia core banking system. The development of the system is based on a core banking system that is already implemented in a medium-scale sharia bank in Indonesia (with nearly 3 million customer saving accounts). The system is developed using DAF (Database Application Framework) for multi-tier application development and deployment. DAF is a set of development library, development tool and runtime environment that is used to develop the SCBS and is required by the SCBS to run. The result of this development activity is a solid application that supports a sharia bank operation from end to end and is a highly valuable asset for dissemination for sharia economic concepts. The system shall also be available for implementation in a wide range of banking operation scale, from small cooperative bank to large commercial bank. The system shall also be enabled to easily operate in application-hosting business model, to reach the maximum availability of economic scale that will empower small-scale sharia-based business entities to participate in an integrated payment and transaction processing system.