Information technology giant Infosys, which has its popular universal banking solution product Finacle, has

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said it will invest in Oman to further strengthen its presence in the country.

According to a news report, International Information Technology Company (IITC), part of OHI group, will now be Finacle’s partner in the region to provide sales, service and post-sales support to its customers in the region.

The partnership is targeting retail, wholesale and universal banks in the region to offer next generation banking solutions.

Senior Vice President & Global Head, Finacle, Haragopal Mangipudi,

said Oman is a very interesting market for various reasons.

"One, economy is robust and growing; two, both in terms of retail

as well as corporate services, banks here demonstrate excellent appetite

and clearly there is a good amount of opportunity and Islamic finance

is a key thrust area," he told 'Times of Oman'.

"Key markets in the Middle East include Saudi Arabia, the UAE,

Oman, Jordan which have significant presence. The new growth markets

are Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar," he said.

Haragopal said banks using Finacle number 150 worldwide which

account for 347 million customers across six continents, close to

five percent of planet population.

Keen to grab a share in the evolving Islamic finance domain,

Haragopal said: "Islamic finance is a key thrust area. What we have

done is, unlike the players, since Islamic finance has emerged as

a thrust area we went in with full focus and vigour rather than just

tweaking here.

"We looked at how to integrate the entire architecture of core

banking. We already have customers in the region and so are also

investing into Islamic finance as we see in it a great potential."