Core Banking Software in Nigeria as of 2016

This is probably the third time I’m writing about core banking software in Nigeria. I did that in 2011 and it’s interesting to see how banking software has evolved in Nigeria since then. The choice of core banking software is not trivial and a wrong move can spell disaster. Banks are usually very conservative about who and what to choose; hardly do you see mavericks in this line of business.

And boy oh boy, this software can be so expensive but frankly, I don’t know why they are. My experience with three of them have left me grossly unimpressed – buggy, poor user experience, lags years behind modern technology, lacks all the good features a proper human being desires, etc.

Meanwhile, kindly pardon my unusual curiosity about things like this.

Bank	Website	Software
Access Bank	www.accessbankplc.com	FLEXCUBE
Citibank	www.citigroup.com/nigeria	FLEXCUBE
Diamond Bank	www.diamondbank.com	FLEXCUBE
Ecobank	www.ecobank.com	FLEXCUBE
Fidelity Bank	www.fidelitybank.ng	Finacle 7
First Bank of Nigeria	www.firstbanknigeria.com	Finacle 10
First City Monument Bank	www.firstcitygroup.com	Finacle 10
Guaranty Trust Bank	www.gtbank.com	Basis
Heritage Bank	www.hbng.com/	Finacle 10
Keystone	www.keystonebankng.com/	T24
Skye Bank	www.skyebankng.com	FLEXCUBE
Stanbic IBTC Bank	www.stanbicibtcbank.com	Finacle 10
Standard Chartered Bank	www.standardchartered.com/ng	eBBS
Sterling Bank	www.sterlingbankng.com	Banks
Union Bank	www.unionbankng.com	FLEXCUBE
United Bank for Africa	www.ubagroup.com	Finacle 10
Unity Bank	www.unitybankng.com	Banks
Wema Bank	www.wemabank.com	Finacle 10
Zenith Bank	www.zenithbank.com	Phoenix

The software Lineup

In 2011	Now 2016
Finacle – 7 (29%) FLEXCUBE – 7 (29%) Globus/T24 – 4 (17%) Basis/Banks – 3 (13%) eBBS – 1(4%) Equinox – 1 (4%) Phoenix – 1 (4%)	Finacle – 7 (37%) FLEXCUBE – 6 (32%) Basis/Banks – 3 (16%) T24 – 1 (5%) eBBS 1 (5%) Phoenix – 1 (5%)

Notes *

• Skye Bank dropped Finacle when it acquired Mainstreet Bank (which was Afribank in 2011)
• Finacle lost a site when Heritage Bank, which wasn’t even in existence in 2011, bought Enterprise Bank. Enterprise Bank was Spring Bank in 2011
• FLEXCUBE lost a site when Access Bank took over InterContinental Bank

More About The Core Banking Software
Finacle is a complete suite of banking applications from Infosys, one of the largest technology companies in India.

FLEXCUBE is from Oracle Financial Services. FLEXCUBE was initially i-Flex software but the company was bought by Oracle in 2005 during one of its famous spending sprees. A bit of history: FLEXCUBE was originally developed by Citibank and was spurned off as Citicorp Information Technologies Industries Limited, an independent company. FLEXCUBE is highly regarded globally with about 700 installations in 125 countries and has won Core Banking Solution of the Year and Application of the Year from The Banker.

Basis and Banks are from ICS Financial Services, a midsize Jordanian/UK software company with about 45 installations worldwide.

Despite the fact that the Nigerian market is dominated by 2 major software from India, the core banking software business is rich and varied worldwide. To read more about other banking systems, head over to http://www.inntron.co.th/corebank.html.