Oman’s fintech gateway is open, the real test follows

The writer is a Muscat-based business and tech journalist. Email: loborianna@gmail.com

Six-plus institutions aligned earlier this week to launch Oman’s new national financial technology (fintech) strategy – a welcome move for entrepreneurs, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and young investors looking to build in the country's fintech space.

This strategy was described as a framework to bring into reality the ambition of these six bodies – of building a future-ready, tech-savvy system that increases access to financial services and enhances national competitiveness.

The Oman Fintech Gateway was launched along with this strategy, “to serve as a central hub for innovators seeking to understand the market, assess their readiness and connect with relevant stakeholders.” The platform seems to be aimed at providing guidance and progressing towards a digital-first fintech system.

Oman has often been seen as a cautious mover among its Gulf peers when it comes to fintech, with the UAE and Bahrain establishing hubs and sandboxes quite a few years earlier. However, this new policy is a clear signal that Oman is ready to close this gap for young investors and entrepreneurs.

According to Mahmoud bin Abdullah Al-Awaini, Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance, the strategy "represents one of the main enablers to accelerate the transformation of the financial sector, and enhance its efficiency, competitiveness and ability to innovate."

This transformation, one infers, includes regulatory changes, new licensing pathways, and the Gateway itself – moving Oman from the old to the new.

What this means for young Omanis and expats looking to build their businesses and investments from scratch is that their access to the finance and business sectors in Oman will not be limited anymore – even if what that looks like in practice remains to be seen.

The strategy also commits to greater transparency, clarity, predictability and efficiency. These are the right words. What could be worth watching over the coming months is whether they come attached to actual metrics: timelines, reporting mechanisms, something a fintech founder or investor could point to and measure progress against.

Now, Oman is entering a race that began a decade ago: Abu Dhabi Global Market launched the region's first regulatory sandbox in 2016; Bahrain and Dubai's DIFC followed within a year, each building dedicated fintech hubs and pulling in international startups early.

That, however, doesn’t put Oman on the backfoot. Instead, it can draw on nearly ten years of trial and error in the region, rather than improvising this strategy from scratch.

All eyes now fall on the execution. Coordination and clarity, the two things this strategy promises most, are exactly where Oman will need to move faster than its neighbours if the gateway is to compete for an existing pool of investors and businesses, and attract new ones as well.

Al Awaini affirmed that "there is no conflict between innovation and stability; each reinforces the other when they are based on sound governance, regulation that takes into account the principle of proportionality, and effective institutional coordination."

This bold statement is what one hopes to land true in the future, as this strategy and gateway are what move Oman’s fintech industries towards the “Oman 2040” vision, and makes Oman an attractive and reliable destination for investment and innovation.