Honouring the best in the Sri Lankan Islamic Banking and Finance fraternity, the annual “Sri Lanka Islamic Banking and Finance Industry (SLIBFI) Awards” held for the year 2013, honoured Al-Falaah of Lanka ORIX Finance PLC and LOLC Technologies with 02 prestigious accolades, recognizing their innovative spirit and contribution to the IBF industry amongst peer wins.

Al-Falaah and LOLC Technologies were feted for their exceptional achievements in 02 significant categories, winning Silver Awards each in “Islamic Finance Technology Provider of the Year” by LOLC Technologies and “Social Upliftment Award” by Al-Falaah.

In addition, marking yet another significant achievement, Mr. Krishan Thilakaratne General Manager of Al-Falaah was honoured with an accolade for “Outstanding Contribution to the Islamic Banking & Finance Industry of Sri Lanka”. He was instrumental in conceptualizing and introducing Islamic Finance to the LOLC Group in 2007 and is a distinguished professional in both non-bank Finance and Islamic Finance Industries of Sri Lanka.

The awards ceremony was held on the 23rd of October 2013 at Hotel Galadari, Colombo amidst a gathering of distinguished guests. The Chief Guest of the evening was His Excellency Mr. Azmi Zanuddin, High Commissioner for Malaysia in Sri Lanka.

LOLC Technologies, a fully owned subsidiary of the LOLC Group, received the Silver Award for “Islamic Finance Technology Provider of the Year” for its successful implementation of FusionIBL ®Islamic Financial module of Fusion Financial Solution Suite, uniquely designed to support Shari’ah compliant Islamic Financial processes within the LOLC Group. The Gold Award was won by an International Technology Solutions Company, placing this locally designed product in par with international standards.

Similarly, the Charity Fund of Al-Falaah, the Islamic Business Unit of Lanka ORIX Finance PLC, was honoured with Silver in the “Social Upliftment Award” category, for their unpublicized charity and social services activities carried out in the areas of Health, Education, Poverty Alleviation and Social Upliftment in all communities across Sri Lanka. This was a significant achievement for the company, as Al-Falaah was the only Financial Institution among peer awards recipients to receive this prestigious accolade.

Commenting about the multiple wins, Mr. Krishan Thilakaratne said, “We are truly honoured and humbled by this felicitation. Since inception, the Al-Falaah brand has championed ‘Values’ by providing Alternative Financial Solutions in compliance with Shari’ah principles of profit-sharing and ethical financial transactions. We are supported in this endeavor by visionary and committed teams comprising of Board of Directors, Management Members, Independent Shari’ah Supervisory Board, Associate Companies and Young Professionals – all of whom with vast expertise and commitment to empower people across Sri Lanka.”

Rewarding Innovative Spirit

At the awards, LOLC Technologies was lauded for creating the unique FusionIBL solution to meet necessary system processes required in the non-bank finance companies sector.

Explaining, Mr. Conrad Dias, Managing Director/CEO of LOLC Technologies and Chief Information Officer of the LOLC Group said, “FusionIBL is an end-to-end Islamic Banking and Finance module in which all system processes are supported to meet stringent Shari’ah compliant requirements, and the ease and flexibility of structuring tailor-made, advances-repayment options similar to a conventional banking and finance platform. This module is specifically designed for financial services management companies and comprises of core modules such as Lending Management (FusionLM), Deposit Management (FusionDM) and Savings Account Management (FusionSA).”

Adding further he said that at the time of its launch, FusionIBL Savings was the first of its kind to be introduced in Sri Lanka, where online and monthly profit distributions were supported, while providing all facilities and benefits of a standard conventional savings product, such as ATM and Debit Card facilities with international ATM access. Moreover, FusionIBL uniquely supports not only Islamic lending such as Ijarah, Murabaha and Diminishing Musharakha but Shari’ah compliant investments and savings such as Mudharabah and Mudharabaha Savings as well.

“Implementing this solution has successfully achieved the challenges in providing convenient solutions to users whilst conforming to IF principles comprehensively. The unique General Ledger (GL) Integration supports to isolate IF transactions from the rest, if there is conventional business being executed within the same organization. It also supports seamless integration with any financial Enterprise Resource Planning inclusive of proven records with Oracle Financials.” He concluded.

LOLC Technologies Ltd. was incorporated as a fully owned subsidiary of the LOLC Group. The company collaborates with principles such as Oracle, Microsoft and VM Ware® to provide integrated solutions as a service provider while maintaining strategic alliances with other delivery partners in the region. With a strategic focus on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) LOLC Technologies also provides consultancy services in ICT Strategy Development, Consulting Support in Governance, Risk & Compliance, Disaster Recovery Management, Mobility Device Management Solutions IT Project Management, and Hosted Application Services.