International, African firms offer add-ons to CORE banking.

Polaris Software Lab Ltd, and MFI Enterprise Solutions, both international company, signed a strategic agreement to provide Intellect, a software product of the former, to Ethiopian banks, insurance companies, and microfinance institutions, on Friday, August 27, 2010.

Polaris gave the licence for its Intellect software to MFI Enterprises Solutions to customise, implement and give training and support to Ethiopian financial institutions on the same day.

"There are other companies already in the market that are installing centralised, online, real-time, electronic (CORE) banking solutions here in Ethiopia, we know," Prasanta Kumar Das, general manager of MFI Enterprise Solutions, said. "However our solution is wide-ranging, applicable for top through middle to lower-class banks, insurance companies, and MFIs, with many low cost features."

Polaris software comprises of 35 products that include CORE banking, cash management, trade financing, risk and treasury, and two factor authentication, which will benefit the Ethiopian economy, according to the general manager.

Following the announcement of the National Bank of Ethiopia's (NBE) installation of a national payment system, which is slotted to start on June 30, 2011, the NBE mandated that all banks install CORE banking solutions to be able to transact with it.

A number of commercial banks have announced in the preceding months their selection of international CORE banking vendors. Temenos, Oracle Financial Services, Infrasoft Tech, and Neptune are among the popular vendors chosen by banks.

As a new entrant to the market, MFI plans to also capitalise on the opportunity created. MFI Enterprise Solutions is approaching some banks with offers to add different features of Polaris software to the already installed CORE banking software, according to the general manager. They have already changed the CORE banking software installed for Exim Bank of Tanzania with their product, he said.

MFI Enterprise Solutions is the only partner of Polaris Software in 10 African countries including Ethiopia. Based in Kenya, and with an office here in Ethiopia, it has installed the Intellect at Eco Bank of Ghana, and other four East African countries, according to Kumar Das.

Polaris Software was founded in 1993, with its headquarters in India and many branch offices outside.