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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Summit calls for acceleration in digital banking

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MUSCAT, oct 10 - The fifth edition of New Age Banking Summit Oman, supported by Oman Banks Association, drew a good response from the banking industry and fintech sectors. Tahir bin Salim al Amri, Executive President, Central Bank of Oman, was the chief guest at the event held last week. In his keynote address, Al Amri emphasised on CBO’s role in facilitating the growth of fintech, and encourage electronic payments, risk management controls and customer protection.


Talking about the new initiatives in payments, he said, “The wholesale payment system, namely, the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), is in an advanced stage of upgrade and will be up and running 24×7 by the first half of 2021.


“This will make Oman the first country in the Arab Gulf region to operate the RTGS 24×7.


“It will help businesses to make high-value payments round the clock, which will greatly help the payment system participants manage their funds efficiently.”


In a separate presentation, Ali Hassan Moosa, CEO of Oman Banks Association, reflected on the need for the banks to gear up for the changes at an accelerated pace with the growing popularity of open banking, instant P2P payments, cashless multicurrency exchanges, behaviour-based personalised offers, super e-wallet that works across borders and blockchain-based contracts, and so on.


The Summit also hosted a panel discussion titled ‘The Age of Collaboration to Drive Innovation and Transformation’. The panel, comprising the well-known industry leaders from banking, finance, investment, insurance and technology sectors, debated on various aspects related to the great reset for the financial services sector due to COVID-19 related challenges and how banks are adapting to the changing technology landscape.


The panelists included Khalid al Kayed CEO of Bank Nizwa; Sanjay Kawatra, Group President - Regional Business and COO of OMINVEST Group; Eng Maqbool al Wahaibi, CEO of Oman Data Park; Eddy Abboud, CEO of GBM Oman; and Sunil Kohli, CEO of Dhofar Insurance. The panel discussion was moderated by Ali Hassan Moosa.


Oman Banking and Finance Awards 2020 was also co-located with the New Age Banking Summit.


The best performing banking, leasing, insurance and fintech companies were felicitated in the Awards.


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