Agrobank picks IBM to help digitize operations, better serve agriculture communities

• Will modernise its core banking system with the IBM Power-based system
• Enable Agrobank to enhance its operations’ stability, security and resiliency

Agrobank has announced its collaboration with IBM Malaysia to modernise its core banking system with the IBM Power-based system to better serve the Malaysian agriculture sector, Small Medium Entreprises (SMEs) and communities.

“The collaboration with IBM is timely. As a leader in agriculture financing and value-based intermediation (VBI) banking in Malaysia, Agrobank is embracing new technologies in its effort to stay ahead of the curve for agriculture financing and providing the best facilities for its customers,” said President/Chief Executive Officer, Tengku Ahmad Badli Shah Raja Hussin who was appointed in Jan 2022.

VBI is an initiative by Bank Negara Malaysia which aims to improve the products and services offered by Islamic financial institutions towards a better facilitation of entrepreneurship, community well-being, sustainable environment and economic growth, without compromising on shareholders’ returns

Ahmad Badli expects the implementation of the system to enable Agrobank to enhance its operations’ stability, security, resiliency and successfully reduce 50% of overall business processing time and management. This, in turn, will see improved customer satisfaction across its 192 locations across Malaysia.

“Agrobank is a firm believer in how digital transformation yields greater productivity and operational efficiencies while elevating customer satisfaction. With the nation on the road to recovery following the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank is fully committed to helping rebuild the Malaysian economy through various entrepreneurship initiatives,” Ahmad Badli added.

Elaborating further, IBM Malaysia Managing Director and Technology Leader, Catherine Lian said, “IBM is delighted to support Agrobank to leverage the right technology solution to enhance its banking operations. IBM Power brings unprecedented speed to AI workloads from the most powerful supercomputers at the bank, while providing the security and agility needed to meet the industry’s strict regulatory requirements.”  

IBM Malaysia has collaborated with its business partner, Silverlake Axis, to ensure smooth implementation.

IBM Power is architected to match the enterprise’s most data-intensive workloads, delivering enterprise-class compute with a combination of availability, security, and the flexibility of hybrid cloud deployment - traditional on-premise, private cloud, and public cloud.